


Skullgirls: Weakening of the Skull Heart

by CitrusSplattershot



Category: Skullgirls
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Found Family, Love Confessions, More characters to be added, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Lives, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2019-08-22 22:56:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16607000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitrusSplattershot/pseuds/CitrusSplattershot
Summary: Marie has taken over the Skull Heart and is now in control. She can finally live a normal life with Peacock. But everyone still sees the Skullgirl as a threat. Peacock will protect Marie with her life, but Marie needs to help her, as well as some new friends, to not get themselves killed because of her. But deep down, she still feels the Skull Hearts presence...(Just go to Chapter 8...it’ll explain what will become of this fic)





	1. How It All Started

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a project come true. I am a big fan of Skullgirls and I wanted to do this for a while. Also if you haven’t already, go read another fic I made titled “A Whole Bunch Of Ships”. It has a chapter focusing on Peacock and Marie and this fic continues off where that chapter ends.

_**1 Year Ago...** _

”These stars are really beautiful.” Marie said looking at the stars and moon in awe.

”I agree.” Patricia said, smiling and blushing a little bit.

Marie really wanted to see the stars that night when the slaveholders were sleeping. It took a lot of effort to convince Patricia to come along. Patricia accepted, realizing she could tell her a secret that she wanted to tell her for a long time. They went on top of the house to enjoy the view. If they were caught, they might die. But both of them really wanted this.

”Hey, Marie?” Patricia said, looking at Marie, ready to tell her. 

“Yes, Patricia?”

”Marie, we’ve been best friends since the orphanage and I love every second I get to spend time with you.” Patricia began.

Marie started blushing a little bit. She knew where this was going. And she was excited. 

“Yeah.” was all she could say.

”And I don’t wanna ruin that friendship. But...I had these feelings deep down and I didn’t know what they were for a while. But I just wanna let you know,” she took a deep breath, “I lov-“

She was suddenly grabbed by the ankle and tugged onto the ground. She landed on her side and once she tried to get up, she tried to gasp for air. Marie also got tugged and she landed on her left arm. 

“ **What did we say about going out at night or talking to each other!?!?! YOU!!!”** the man said as he pointed Marie. “This was your idea wasn’t it?!?”

”No, it was mine...” Patricia said weakly.

The man lost it. Everytime he or someone else caught them, Patricia always said it was her idea. Even though it was Marie’s idea 90% of the time. She didn’t want Marie to get hurt on her watch.

”I know you’ve been sticking up for your friend. This time, she’s gonna get the punishment.” The man said, tugging the two back inside. 

He called the others and threw both Marie on the ground and Patricia on the wall to watch what they were going to do. Once the others came, he told them what the two did. They were livid as well.

One of them kicked Marie in the face.

”NO!” Patricia yelled

Before the man could attack Marie himself, Patricia picked up a chair and bashed it to the man’s head. The man fell to the ground and felt his head. It was bleeding and he was more mad than he had ever been in his entire life.

”Why you...” he said shaking. He then punched Patricia. Blood came out of her nose when she hit the ground. The Man and the others started kicking Patricia. Marie was pushed to the wall. 

“STOP IT PLEASE!” Marie pleaded at the top of her lungs.

Patricia kicked the Man back. That was the biggest mistake that almost cost her her life. He chocked her and brought her up . All Patricia could see was his two thumbs going toward her eyes and then she felt pain and couldn’t see anything. All she could do is scream in pain and hear Marie’s cries. 

“R...RUN, MARIE, RUN!” Patricia yelled.

Then the man slammed her head against a wall and dropped her. She was a bloody heap. Marie thought she was dead. She started sobbing. But she did was she was told; she ran out the front door.

”HEY! GET HER!” the man yelled.

She managed to outrun them. She went all the way to the Catherdral, where she thought it was abandoned. Once she went to the catacombs, she thought it was safe to kneel down and cry some more. 

“I’m sorry, Patricia. I was too weak and now you’re dead. I’m so sorry...” Marie said in between her sobs.

Then she heard a noise. She looked to see what it was, only to see a Nun right next to her face. She screamed and fell back.

”Hello, Child.” the Nun said, in a weird voice. “The Trinity has chosen you.”

”What? Who’s the Trinity? What’s the Trinity?” Marie asked clearly confused.

”I cannot answer that. But I can give you,” she said as she put out both her hands and a floating, flaming Skull came out of nowhere, “the Skull Heart. You can wish on it and your wish would be granted. Without any consequences.” she said.

Marie thought it was suspicious. A dark place with a weird sounding Nun and a blue flamed, floating Skull. But, all she could think about was Patricia. She thought of the good times they had together. All the challenges they faced. Her feelings for her...

But she remembered the slaveholders were funded by the Medici Mafia. Anger against the Medicis filled her entire body. 

“I wish to kill the Medicis. Every last one of them.”

There was silence for a little bit.

”Your wish is impure. Killing people is the opposite of pure. Also, Patricia, the person you’re doing this for, is still alive.” The Skull Heart said.

Marie’s eyes widened. Her best friend was still alive. She got up to go.

“But, you will get your wish.” the Skull Heart said, getting closer to Marie.

“What? What are you doing? What are-“ she said then yelled in pain.

That was the last thing she remembers before she was taken over by the Skull Heart and transformed into the Skullgirl. But, she was still there. Just trying to get her consciousness back for 1 year.

And she did...with help from an old friend…


	2. What Happens Now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peacock and Marie have finally reunited and confessed their love for each other. But they don’t know what to do next. Finding a place to live is what comes to mind…

Peacock slowly opened her eyes due to the rising sun shining in her face. She turned to avoid contact with the sun and saw that Marie still sleeping. She remembered they slept on top of the building and used her hat as a pillow.

”What’s goin’ on here?” said a light voice.

Peacock looked behind her to see Avery with a big kitchen knife.

”Um,well…” was all Peacock could say.

At that moment, Avery jumped to stab the sleeping Marie, but Peacock grabbed him, careful not to cut herself or smoosh Avery.

”Calm down, ya big mook!”

”We’re supposed to  _kill_ the Skullgirl, not  _fucking sleep_ with her!!” Avery yelled in retaliation

”Look, me and Marie go way back to when we were slaves. She was my best friend and we’ve both had a crush on each other for years. Now that we’ve reunited and confessed to each other, I want to live as close to a normal life with her.” Peacock said, showing actual sympathy.

”She’s the GODDAMN SKULLGIRL! She doesn’t feel any type of love! She only wants world destruction! She doesn’t care what happens to YOU as long as she destroys the world!” Avery replied back.

”She does know what love is! And she doesn’t want to destroy the world! She only wants to destroy the Medici Mafia. Just...please give her a chance.”

Avery was gonna say no in the spot, but saw something in Peacock’s face, actual worry and sympathy. He sighed.

”Fine. But if Andy and Tom know, hell, if the rest of Lab 8 know, I had no part in this and you’re on your own. Got it?” Avery said.

Peacock nodded. She looked back to see Marie waking up.

”Mornin’, Marie!”

”Morning...” Marie said, sounding like this was the best sleep she had in years

Avery jumped right beside Marie.

”Try anything funny and I’ll make sure your flesh and bones are two seperate entities!” Avery said, showing her his knife.

He then went back into the top of Peacock’s hat and Peacock put her hat back on.

”Dont worry about that dingus. He’s rarely defensive.”

The two sat in silence before Marie spoke up.

”So what happens next?”

”I...actually have no idea. But...we need a place to live. We can’t sleep on this same rooftop forever.”

”Is there any place you can think of?” Marie asked.

”Well, I’ve been thinking of going back to...” Peacock said before looking away.

Marie put her hand on Peacock’s cheek and softly made her look at her. “It’s okay, you can tell me. If you don’t, just say so, okay?” 

Peacock smiled for a second. “Lab 8.”

Marie looked worried. When she was being controlled by the Skull Heart, she killed so many people there. Destroyed so much things in there. Unknowingly hurting Peacock…

”We can check it out at least once. If there’s someone there, we’ll look somewhere else. If there’s not, we’ll...you know...”

”Yeah. Anyway, wanna get something to eat? I only have…$25. It’s not a lot but it’s something.”

”Yeah, I guess I can eat.”

*   *   *

It was after 12 p.m. so Peacock’s favorite burger place was open. Marie just concentrated on weakening her flames and eventually, the flames did weakened. The people still looked at her weirdly, but they didn’t make too munch of a big deal. Peacock and Marie were catching up on their lives. Peacock talking about her toon gang while Marie was talking about Double and Valentine.

”Wait, so the nurse that was part of the labs but went a different way with Brain Drain or whoever the hell he is?” Peacock aske.

”I guess. Anyway, what do you think happened to your gang?”

”I told ‘em to find the rest of Lab 8 and tell me where they were, but I never saw them after that. I do think they found them though.”

A moment has passed.

”Patricia?”

”Yeah?”

”Do you want me to call you ‘Peacock’ instead?”

”Ya know, I was thinking about telling you that but after a while of thinking, it’s fine if you call me by my real name.”

”Really?”

”Nope!” Peacock said joking. She laughed a little. “I’m joking, you can call me whatever you’d like.”

”Okay, thanks Patricia.”

At that moment their food came. Marie got a salad and Peacock got a cheeseburger with fries. They both shared a chocolate milkshake.

After a minute of eating, Peacock cut a piece of her cheeseburger off.

”Hey, Marie? Wanna try this? It’s the best burger in New Meridian.” Peacock said holding the small piece.

”No thanks, I rather eat my salad.”

”It’s just a tiny piece. You know you want it.”

Marie just smiled, took the piece, and ate it. She blushed and held her cheek.

”Told ya.” 

Marie got an idea. She picked up a few pieces of lettuce and a baby tomato with her fork. She also grabbed a fry and hovered it over Peacock’s mouth.

Peacock smirked and opened her mouth. Marie then put in her salad.

”Pft, really?” Peacock said trying to spit out the salad.

Marie just giggled and ate the fry. “You wanted to try your burger, so I gotta pay you back someway.”

Avery came out of the hat and ate a few fries himself. 

The two continued to talk while eating the rest of their lunch. Marie hasn’t had this good of a lunch in her entire life. Sharing it with Peacock made it all the more special.

*   *   *

They eventually made their way to Lab 8. Once they were able to get inside, Marie gasped. Destroyed equipment was everywhere. Blood was all over the bodies of those killed. Peacock was shaking a little and was breathing heavily.

”Patricia, are you okay with this?” Marie asked, very worried.

”Yeah, I’m fine.” Peacock said, trying to maintain her voice.

They both went separate ways to search the place of anybody else. Marie kept seeing dead scientists. She felt tears on her cheeks. She didn’t want to kill the innocent. But she did. 

‘ _No_...’ Marie thought.  _’It’s the Skull Heart’s fault. But I can’t help but feel guilty for all this. I hope Patricia’s doing well.’_

Patricia was not doing well. She was doing much worse. Every dead body she passed she shook even more. Her breathing was heavier. But she found herself in the room. The same room Dr. Avian’s corpse lay. She lost it. She took a step forward but fell down. She was gasping for air. She was getting air, but it felt like she wasn’t getting air or couldn’t breath. She tried to call Marie but nothing came out except gasps. All she could do was crawl, so she tried to crawl to Marie.

After so many attempts, she could finally yell Marie’s name. “M...Mar...MARIE!” Peacock cried out. She then plopped back onto the ground, unconscious. 

Marie flew there as fast as she could. She finally arrived to where Peacock was. She was huffing and wheezing and a little bit of crying.

”Patricia!” 

Avery came out of the hat and saw Peacock like that.

”Boss! Boss, are you okay?” Avery asked with worry.

”We need to get help!” Marie said.

”But there’s nobody here to help! Not for another few miles!” Avery said.

”We’ll have to take care of her ourselves.” Marie said as she picked her up. Avery jumped onto Marie’s shoulder and with the help of Avery of directions, Marie went to Peacock’s room as fast as she could.

*   *   *

Peacock woke up in her hammock, sweaty. She was able to breathe normally again. She’s remembered what happened and Marie and Avery came in.

”Patricia! Are you alright?” Marie asked.

”And be honest this time.” Avery added.

”No, I’m not. This is all my fault. If I was more stronger, if I did something, anything, better, you wouldn’t have met Double, you wouldn’t have met the Skull Heart, you would still be normal.” Peacock said, voice shaking.

Marie hugged Peacock for a while, then disbanded, but held both her hands.

”Listen, all of this is not your fault. Things were out of both of our control. Plus, you wouldn’t have met the rest of Lab 8. You wouldn’t have made friends with them. You wouldn’t have Avery, you wouldn’t have your “gang”. But, we’re still together nevertheless. After all that’s happened to the both of us, we’re still living. We’re still standing. And we’re still together.” 

“Yeah, think of the times were we had fun! Driving around, beating up the criminals, and probably being criminals ourselves, but that’s beside the point. So, listen when I say this, knucklehead, me and her are still here for ya.” Avery added.

Peacock never felt this much emotion in her entire life. Even though the world gave all three of them shit, they were still together. Like a family. Marie, her girlfriend and Avery, her best partner.

”Thanks guys.” The three embraced in a hug. “I really do mean it.” 

* * *

They buried all of the bodies outside the lab. They had a small little funeral. Once it came time to bury Dr. Avian, Peacock was still shaking, but Marie hugged her arm. It made Peacock a little more calmer. Once all the bodies were buried and their respects were paid, they cleaned the place up. If it was metal that was supposed to be attached to the wall, Peacock and Avery would use their “Argus Agony” move to heat the things into place.

2 the Televisions were busted, but all the others were fine. So once they cleaned the place up, Peacock and Avery turned on the televisions and Marie joined them. They watched an episode of ‘Annie: Girl of the Stars’ where Annie and Beowulf had to defeat this big lava monster from attacking the village. 

Peacock, Marie, and Avery enjoyed the show. During the show, Marie intertwined her hands with Peacock’s. Both of them smiled and continued to watch.

To them, it was an end of an era. But the beginning to a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not gonna post Chapter 3 until Saturday. I’m pooped from the first two and I think more people are on in the weekends so...


	3. Weird Feelings and New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squigly Contiello is looking for the Skull Heart to destroy it before it hurts anyone. And along the way she meets some new friends. Will the Skullgirl be one of those friends?

"So, where to next m'lady?" Leviathan asked Squigly.

"I honestly don't know. Although I've been thinking about going after the Medici lately. Make them pay for what they did to me and my family." Squigly replied.

"Well, whatever your choice is, just know I'll be by your side."

"Thanks Leviathan." Squigly said, happily. 

She decided to go after the Medici Mafia. The two went toward the River King Casino. But when they were half a mile from the Casino, Squigly started to feel weird.

 _'What's Happening to me? Wait..the Skull Heart... something's wrong with it.'_ Squigly thought.

"M'lady, is something wrong? Or do you also feel the Skull Heart's weakening as well?" Leviathan asked.

"I feel the weakening. But it doesn't feel right. Let's go after the Skullgirl instead. We got to know what's happening." Squigly said.

"I concur. Let's go find the Skullgirl!" Leviathan stated.

Squigly nodded. She walked a couple steps away from the Casino before being grabbed and taken to the nearest alleyway. All she could see was 7 Medici goons. She felt hands all over her body. She kicked the biggest one of the bunch. The big one got frustrated and threw her further in the alley. She collided with some trash bins and dumpsters.

"My, my, we got a fighter over here. The one's I prefer most." Riccardo said, walking towards Squigly and taking the cigar out of his mouth.

One of the goons grabbed her to get up, but Squigly punched him in the face. Leviathan twirled his tail around the man's arm, tightened his grip, and slammed him against the wall, knocking him out. 

"Oh you were right when you said she's a fighter." Lawrence said. Riccardo just sighed.

At that moment, a tendril from behind hit Lawrence in the back of his head. 

"What The Hell?!?!" Riccardo yelled, before getting hit himself. 

"Leave her alone!" said the mysterious girl in a schoolgirl outfit behind them. 

"Step back lady, or you'll get it too." said one of the goon.

Then, a deep male voice spoke up while the girl's hair moved.

"Nobody threatens to sexually assault my host!"

Leviathan froze.

' _What? That can't be him. Please don't let it be him_.' Leviathan thought.

"Oh, no, not you again!" Riccardo said, complaining.

"Yep, again. And we'll stop you every time you try it again to anyone else!" the girl replied.

The Medici Goons dashed towards the girl with the parasite. But the girl and the parasite started fighting the goons.

"Leviathan, we should help them!" Squigly said as she dashed towards the goons.

The two girls and parasites fought every goon that came their way. When the big goon ran toward them, both girls looked at each other and nodded. Their parasites wrapped around their fists and they both uppercut the big goon. The big goon flew into an open dumpster. 

Riccardo and Lawrence got up and ran away.

"You'll pay for this! We always get what we want! No matter how long it takes!" Riccardo yelled.

"Yeah! Even if it takes us a thousand years!" Lawrence yelled.

"Shut up, Lawrence!" Riccardo yelled.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Did they touch you in places you didn't want to be touched?" the girl asked with a lot of concern in her voice.

Squigly giggled a little. The two girls never met each other before yet this girl was super concerned for her. She found it..kinda cute to be honest.

"I'm fine. Thanks."

"No problem at all! I guess I should properly introduce myself. My name is Filia!" she said while putting her hand out to shake Squigly's hand.

"Sienna Contiello. But please call me Squigly. Nice to meet you, Filia." Squigly said, shaking Filia's hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Squigly."

"UGH, how long are you two going to take? It smells like shit back here!" said the parasite on Filia's head.

"I knew it! Samson!" Leviathan exclaimed.

"Shitty Snake Head?" Samson replied, surprised.

"You two know each other?" Both Filia and Squigly asked.

"I considered him a friend once. Until I saw who he really is: a selfish hairy, buffoon." Leviathan said, furiously.

"Coming from the snake who smells like a dead chicks ass!"

"Samson!" Filia yelled "Apologize to them this instant!"

"No."

Filia sighed. She grabbed four of Samson's tendrils and pulled them, wincing in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Samson finally said.

Filia finally let go of the tendrils.

"I'm really sorry for what he said. He's like that sometimes."

"It's alright. You don't have to apologize for him."

They stood there for a couple of seconds before Filia spoke up.

"Do you want to talk somewhere else? I know of a great diner near here."

*   *   *

Painwheel escaped from the Lab. She kept running and running, feeling as though she was followed. She then spun her Buer Drive like it was a helicopter and decided to fly all the way back to Maplecrest. To her house In Maplecrest, with her parents. Once she thought she was finally safe, she flew down to the ground. She walked through the sidewalks in the afternoon. People walking their dogs were terrified to walk anymore when they saw her. The dogs barked at her.

She had a very soft spot for dogs so it was hard for her to get mad at it. But the more she walked the more people saw her. The more people called her a freak. The more people screamed and ran the opposite way. She fell down to her knees, almost about to lose it. But then...there it was. Her house. She was so happy she ignored the pain in her body and everyone else on the street and ran towards her house.

She knocked on the door a few times. Nothing. She then heard some people. Her parents...

They opened the door. With what Painwheel saw, her parents were tired. They were stressed over losing their daughter. And now she was right in front of them.

”Mom, Dad...I’m home.”

The two screamed when they looked at her.

”Get out of my property, freak!” her dad yelled.

”And never say you’re my daughter EVER AGAIN!!!” her mom yelled.

Then they slammed the door on her face. That was it. That was Painwheel’s breaking point. She fell down to the ground and started crying. 

Then the dad came back outside but with a shotgun.

”I SAID GET OUT OF MY PROPERTY!” 

Before he shot, Painwheel spun her Buer Drive and flew away. Not looking back and with tears in her eyes. She was too distracted, she didn’t see the black cloud of fog with purple electricity flowing around and a figure right next to her house.

* * *

Filia and Squigly went to Filia's favorite diner to talk (and eat just a little).

"The reason why me and Samson are after the Skull Heart is that I lost my memories and we were hoping that we could wish on the Heart to remember." Filia said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Every person who has wished on it has turned into the Skullgirl." Squigly replied.

"I-I guess you're right. So what's your story?" asked Filia, curiously.

Squigly was a bit worried at first but decided to tell her everything that happened at her mom’s birthday party.

"The Medici killed you and your family because they thought they had the Skull Heart?" Filia asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Lorenzo stitched my mouth together once my body was in their hands. My mom turned into the Skullgirl and revived us to be part of her zombie army." Squigly answered.

"Then how are you free?" Filia said before taking a slurp from her strawberry shake.

"I helped her regain her mind so she wouldn't be a part of the army." Leviathan replied.

"More like took her life." Samson mumbled under the hat Filia was wearing.

"So, um...n-nevermind, its a dumb question." Filia said.

"No, its fine, you can ask me anything."

"H-how did your mom...d-die?"

Squigly was taken back by the question. Her expression that was once happiness is now replaced with sadness and sorrow.

"Y-you don't have to answer!" Filia said, regretting her question.

"No, it-its fine." she took a deep breath. "When I encountered my mom, she was a completely different person. And since there was no one there, I-I," she was starting to tear up, "I killed my mother. My own mother! On her birthday!" Squigly covered her face with her arms and lied on the table and sobbed.

"It'll be alright, M'lady." Leviathan said.

Filia put her hand on Squigly's arm.

"I'm sorry, Squigly. I'm so, so sorry."

Squigly put her wet face up. "It's alright, Filia. You were just curious." 

"But just know that you still have Leviathan. He'll always protect you and be your friend." 

"And I have you too, Filia." Squigly said, smiling.

Filia was blushing, smiling, and in the brink of tears. She was so happy, she hugged Squigly. Squigly hugged her back. The parasites were close together and they mumbled death threats at each other. 

After the hug, the two girls were having normal conversations, while sharing a small basket of fries. The two girls were having a great time. Squigly was having more fun. however. She hasn't had this much fun in the last 14 years. 

But the weird feelings she was experiencing came back. But this time, they were stronger. She put her hand on her chest.

"Is everything alright, Squigly?" Filia asked.

"I'm feeling the Skull Hearts presence. Its not anywhere nearby or anything, but I've been feeling that the Skull Heart has been weakening. And that its host is starting to take over."

"Wait, are you're serious?"

Squigly nodded.

"Oh wow. Wait, so are we still gonna find and destroy the Skull Heart?"

Squigly thought about this for a little bit.

"We'll find her and see if she's good or bad. If good, we'll think of what to do. If bad, we'll destroy the Heart."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Filia said as she finished her Strawberry Shake.

*   *   *

Painwheel was limping through the streets. She didn't want to sob a little, but its all she could do. It didn't help that everyone on the street that saw her either ran away or called her a freak or a monster.

Then, she saw the diner she and Filia used to go to a lot. She walked to the entrance and the door opened. Out walked Filia with a  purple skinned girl.

So many feelings took over her. Anger, due to her remembering her and Filia's argument. And Jealousy, due to the fact that Filia could have replaced her. 

 **"YOU!!!!**  Painwheel yelled as her Buer Drive raised up and started spinning. 

Both Filia and Squigly screamed in surprise. Both Samson and Leviathan came out of their places, startled by the girls' screams.

"Are you okay, m'lady?" Leviathan asked, concerned.

"Oh! Looks like the freak wants to play!" Samson said

Before anyone started killing each other, Filia yelled, " **EVERYONE, STOP!"**

Everybody did stop, even some pedestrians stopped and looked.

Filia looked at Painwheel a little longer before her eyes widened.

"Carol? Is that really you?"

Painwheel was taken back. Her own parents didn't know who she was and called her a freak and a monster and slammed the door on her face. But her Best Friend, who forgot who she is, was able to know. 

"Don't talk to me. You expect me to talk to you after what you said that day?"

"I don't remember what I did to you, but I want to make it up to you in any way I can." 

Painwheel lowered her Buer Drive. She looked at Squigly and Leviathan.

"Who are you two?"

Squigly didn't want to speak. She was still kinda unsettled. Filia saw this and answered for her.

"These two are Squigly and Leviathan."

"P-pleasure to meet you." Squigly said, nervously. 

"Same here, Miss Carol." Leviathan replied.

"And what's on your head?" Painwheel asked.

"I don't know. What's on your ugly a-" Samson replied before getting interrupted.

"This right here is Samson. Don't listen to him much."

"Hey!"

Leviathan laughed a little.

"Who are you laughing at, DUMBASS?!?"

"So, Carol, what has happened to you?" Filia finally asked.

Painwheel looked around quickly before answering. "Can we talk somewhere else that's more private?"

*   *   *

The three girls went to a building that was away from the city and looked abandoned. They encountered small graves there and it creeped Filia a little bit. They sat on a bench near a big spotlight, with a bomb with an 8 imprinted on it. Once they got comfortable, Carol started telling them her story. She talked about the synthetic parasites, what Lab 0 did to her, Brain Drain and Valentine, what her purpose was, and what happened when she try tried to meet her parents again.

"Carol, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I wish I was there for you..." Filia said, saddened.

"I'm sorry too," Squigly said, "even though we don't know each other, I'm still sorry for what you've been through."

"I just wish I can make Valentine and Brain Drain suffered what I suffered. I want to live a normal life again!" Painwheel yelled as she ripped off her leather mask. She was breathing heavily but she started to calm down a little.

"Thanks, both of you, for th-AGH!" Carol yelled in pain.

"Carol? Carol!" Filia yelled as both her and Squigly ran to her side. 

But a mysterious fog appeared out of nowhere. A figure appeared from the dog.

"Painwheel, return to Lab 0 immediately. This is your final warning. If you don't obey, you will face the consequences." Brain Drain said.

"Leave her alone!" Filia yelled.

"This doesn't concern either of you. Now stay back from this or you, too, will face the consequences."

Samson tried to attack him, but Brain Drain grabbed the tendril and pulled. Filia was flying toward him. He then punched her and she flew and collided with Squigly and they landed on the Spotlight, turning it on. And in the night sky, a light with an 8 ball bomb was shining.

* * *

 

Nearby, Peacock and Marie were coming back with groceries. Peacock hated this. Carrying 3 bags of groceries and having to walk up the hill. She then saw the Lab 8 light.

"Um, Marie?" 

"Hmm?" Marie asked looking at Peacock. She then looked up to see what she was looking at.

"Let's go clobber those mooks!" Peacock said, putting the groceries down and pulling out her pistol.

"Wait, what if its your friends?" Marie asked.

Peacock's smile faded a bit and her pistol lowered a bit.

"I guess we'll find somewhere else to go." 

Marie put her bags of groceries next to Peacock's. Then they dashed towards the lab.

* * *

 

Carol was still on the ground, holding her head from the pain. Brain Drain was kneeling. Squigly and Filia were standing in front of him.

"Don't celebrate too early. Because I have a few tricks left." Brain Drain said, as his hands were surrounded with pink electricity. 

He aimed his hands toward Squigly. 

"Squigly!" Filia yelled.

Filia pushed Squigly out of the way and the electricity shocked Filia. Filia and Samson yelled in pain as they dropped to the ground.

"Filia!" Squigly said.

Brain Drain started shooting electricity at Squigly. She dodged some of them before finally getting hit and flew right next to the other two girls.

"I warned you, Painwheel." Brain Drain said as he aimed his hands toward the three girls.

"It's Garbage Day!" 

Brain Drain then got shot in his right shoulder. He looked up to see Peacock and Marie.

"The Skullgirl...all of you will be tortured slowly. Especially you, Painwheel." Brain Drain said before disappearing.

The three girls were starting to get up.

"Thank you, we-" Filia was saying before Peacock pointed her pistol at her forehead.

"What are you three buffoons doin' here?"

"Um..." Filia couldn't think of what to say.

"We were running from whatever that thing was." Squigly spoke up. The other girls just mildly nodded.

Marie glared at Filia. "You're A Medici."

Filia was clearly confused. "What?"

"You're the Granddaughter of Lorenzo Medici." 

Filia was in the state of shock. She sat on the ground, barley blinking.

"Filia? Are you okay?" Squigly asked

"My family...killed yours, Squigly. I-If you don't want to talk to me anymore, I would understand." 

Squigly hugged Filia as tight as she could.

"You are nothing like your family. Don't shoulder everything your family has done. To me, you're Filia, not some Medici goon." Squigly said, during their hug.

"Thanks, Squigly."

"GAAAYY!!!!" Samson yelled.

"Damnit Samson!" Leviathan said.

"So, are you gonna keep hugging or..." Peacock said.

Filia and Squigly disbanded and blushed.

"Um, I know this is a lot to ask, considering we just met, but can we live here for a couple of days?" Leviathan asked.

"No." "Yes." Peacock and Marie said at the same time.

They looked at each other. Marie started to do a sad yet adorable face.

"Marie..."

She made the face even more sadder.

"Don't do this please..."

Marie then made the most saddest and most adorable face she could make. 

"Ugghh, fine!" Peacock said as Marie smiled and giggled. "You guys can stay for a few days."

"Thanks!" Filia said, as she walked inside.

"We'll make it up to you two." Squigly said as she followed Filia.

"I'll make sure their parasites don't kill each other." Carol said as she entered.

Peacock sighed as she sat on the bench.

"Hey, it'll be alright." Marie said, sitting next to her.

"Yeah Right! Now we gotta have enough food for me, you, Avery, and the Parasite Chicks in there, and we're damn broke!" Peacock said trying to cover up her true reason.

"I have $30." Filia said, coming out of nowhere.

"Piss Off!" Peacock yelled and Filia dashed back inside.

"Look, Patricia, those three needed help. I know you don't want them here, but can you at least give them a chance?" 

Peacock took a while to respond.

"Fine. But I'm not sharing the T.V. with them."

"Thanks, Patricia." Marie said as she hugged her. Peacock smile and slowly wrapped her arm around Marie.

Filia, Squigly, and Carol were watching the entire time.

"Aww..." Filia said.

"They're so cute together." Squigly said. 

"I agree, sort of." Carol said.

"What a bunch of dorks." Samson mumbled.

*   *   *

While Marie and Filia were making dinner, Peacock and Carol were watching cartoons. She hasn't watched cartoons for a long time and she enjoyed it.

Squigly and Leviathan were outside, looking at the sunset. She was deep in her thoughts.

"M'lady, what seems to be the problem?" Leviathan asked.

"I think I'm in love with someone..." Squigly responded, embarrassingly.

"Who is that person?" 

"You may not like it..."

"Can you still tell me?"

Squigly took a deep breath. "...Filia."

"Don't be ashamed. Miss Filia is a very nice person. She even got electrified for us. It's the hairy buffoon on her head I don't like."

"Do you think I should tell her tomorrow?

"It's your choice."

"Dinner's ready, Squigly!" Filia said behind her.

Squigly yelped in surprise. "Okay, I'll be right there."

Filia blushed once she got back inside. She heard what Squigly thinks about her.

' _Squigly likes me! And she's gonna tell me tomorrow!'_ Filia thought

" I know what you're thinking and I can't wait to crash it!" Samson yelled.

"Ooh, no, you're gonna be on your best behavior, mister!"

"I make no promises, kid."

Filia ignored all of Samson's rude comments the rest of the night. She was way too excited for tomorrow.

*   *   *

Big Band was just looking at the city from under the bridge. Everything was calm until he saw the Lab 8 spotlight. 

"Leduc! Hive!" He called.

"What is it, Big Band?" Leduc asked.

"Yeah, I was enjoying the time with the kids." Hive said.

The two looked up.

"Oh, there's someone In the Lab!" Hive said.

"Should we go back there?" Leduc asked.

"Yes. Go tell the others that we're going back tomorrow." Big Band replied.

"Got it!" "Consider it done!" Leduc and Hive said as they went to tell the others.

Big Band looked back at Lab 8. "Don't worry, Doc. We'll take care of the place for you and Find Peacock. And take down the Skullgirl."

He then walked back to the others to talk about their plan. They just had to wait...until tomorrow.


	4. Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie feels the Skull Heart trying to take control of her once again. And to are things worse, the Lab 8 crew comes back to reclaim their home. Oh, and there’s a cat lady, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been an entire month since I posted last chapter. I’m sorry for those who were waiting this long. And thanks as well. Enjoy!

_Marie was floating in pitch blackness. She couldn’t see a thing except in the distance, she saw a blue glow. She was floating towards it. She didn’t want to, but she felt like she was being pulled in. She twist and turned to try to break free, but to no avail. As she got closer to the blue light, she quickly knew what it was._

_’The Skull Heart...’ Marie thought._

_Once she was face to face with it, she stopped moving._

_”What do you want?_

_”To return, to take back what should be mine; you.”_

_”No...leave me alone!!”_

_“You were strong pushing me away for so long. But I will come back. And when I do, I’ll kill the Medicis like you wished. Starting with her.”_

_Filia popped up, but her eyes were gone and blood came from her eyelids. There were scratches everywhere on her. And she was missing half of her right arm._

_”No! Don’t you dare touch her!”_

_“Then the rest of Lab 8 and kill them. Then anyone who gets in my way...”_

_”I will stop you from doing this! I will beat you and you will NEVER hurt anyone else EVER AGAIN!!” Marie yelled._

_“You will try but this time, you will fail. You will lose. And I’m going to accomplish my mission!”_

_Then, The Skull Heart charged at her and when it hit her chest, the blue light grew brighter and Marie started to feel pain. It gotten so bad to the point of her crying and yelling._

* * *

 

 _“_ AAAAHHHH!!!” Marie screamed as she sat up on Peacock’s hammock.

”Marie, what’s wrong?!?” Peacock said, right next to her.

Marie was sweaty, breathing heavily, and her cheeks were wet and from crying.

Marie just looked at Peacock and hugged her tightly, crying a little.

“Marie, are you okay? You were mumbling and turning before you woke up.” Peacock replied.

”No, I’m not okay...the Skull Heart...I felt it again...said to me that’s it’s going to take me over again...”

“It’s not going to take you over again, alright? You’re strong, strong enough to hold out on the Skull Heart’s full control for a year. Strong enough to take control once again. I’m sure you can handle it again. Plus this could be just a nightmare. Nothing more.” Peacock said putting her hands on her shoulders.

“Yeah, hopefully.”

* * *

Filia woke up an hour after that. She slowly rose from the bed, eyes still close and stretched. Once she remembered what today had in store, her eyes widened. She almost jumped from the bed quickly but Samson was still sleeping. But he was a VERY heavy sleeper. So she jumped off the bed anyway. She exited out of her room and saw Marie using the Skull Vaccum to clean stuff up. It was made out of Skulls so instead of the loud noise a usual vaccum would make, it sounded almost like nothing.

”Morning, Marie!” Filia said.

“Morning Fili-“ Marie said before remembering Filia in her nightmare.

”Marie? Are you alright?”

”Yes, I’m fine. Thanks though.” Marie said, snapping out of it.

Marie just kept cleaning. Filia was still a little suspicious but still went off.

”Morning, Peacock!”

“Mornin’, Hair Face!”

Filia was too eager to let that bother her in the slightest bit. She picked a sunflower from the vase near the balcony door. Once she opened and closed the door, she started to sing ‘Sunflower’ to the sunflower.

“Then you’re left in the dust unless I stuck byyy ya. You’re the Sunflower. I think your love would be too much. Or you’ll be left in the dust unless I stuck byyy ya. You’re the Sunflowwwer, You’re the Sunflower!” Filia sung.

She then opened her eyes for the first time and saw Squigly in front of her, watching her. She froze. She dropped the sunflower. She blushed tremendously.

“Um, morning Squigly.” Filia said, still embarrassed.

“Good Morning, Filia.” Squigly said, smiling.

“Good Morning, Miss Filia.” Leviathan said.

”What are two doing?” Filia asked.

”Oh, me and Leviathan were just looking at the city when the sun is rising. It’s really pretty.” Squigly replied.

”I agree. New Meridian looks beautiful anytime of the day.”

Filia, Squigly, and Leviathan kept watching the view in silence for a while. Squigly hovered her hand over Filia’s but then stopped and brought it back. And just in time too.

”Mm, where am I?” Samson said, a quarter awake.

”You’re in hell, Samson. You’re stuck with me for the rest of eternity!” Leviathan said, while breathing purple flames.

”What?!?! No! God, please take me back!” Samson said, fully waking up.

Filia, Squigly, and Leviathan, Leviathan more, laughed.

“Laugh it up, dickwats.” Samson said, embarrassed.

* * *

Carol up later but Filia, Squigly, Samson, Leviathan, and Marie made pancakes for breakfast. After everyone ate, Peacock talked to Marie in private.

”I’m gonna...look for the rest of Lab 8. I know we’re trying to hide from them. But, I need to know if they’re safe. I promised Dr. Avian that.”

”Alright, just be careful out there.” Marie said.

The two embraced in a hug, then Peacock went out. She looked over at Dr. Avian’s grave. Usually her anxiety attack would kick in but after meeting Filia, Squigly and Carol, she started to get better at controlling it.

”I’ll look for them, Doc. Like I promised.”

She walked out the front door and she got on her toon car. She didn’t know how to drive it, she would just give the wheel to Andy Anvil and relax in the back.

“Here goes...”

She then put smashed her foot on the pedal as hard as she could and off she went.

”Now, if I were a from a secret lab, trying to hide from others, where would I go? Under the bridge! Duh, nobody ever goes there.”

It was Peacock’s usual hiding spot when she needed to get away from others, so she went there first. She crashed into almost everything on the way there.

Once she arrived, nobody was there.

“Aye, this is gonna be harder than I thought...”

Then the monitor on the car turned on.

”Um, hello? Is anyone there? Is this thing even working?” Filia asked through the monitor.

”Yello.” Peacock responded.

”Uh, I got some bad news and VERY bad news.”

”Uh huh.” Peacock said, lying down, putting her hat on her face, thinking she was going to cry about there being no shampoo.

”So the front door is destroyed is the bad news.”

”...what did you do?” Peacock said, faceplaming herself.

“Nothing. That leads to the VERY bad news. There’s this group of people, ones a big instrument, ones a shark, ones a nurse with noodle like...everything, 4-5 kids that never leave her side, one has pink hair, has a mask that looks like a wasp, and blasters that look like bee hives, a blonde guy with the things they use in hospitals, but it’s big, an Anvil with boxing gloves and hairy legs, and a blue guy with the letter T on his forehead. And they pinned Marie, Squigly, and Carol down and are looking for me.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Annnddd...they found me.”

She got tugged from the monitor and it turned off.

”Fuckin’ hell!” Peacock yelled.

She then drove off, still crashing into stuff and even being chased by the police at one point. She outran them with some unorthodox driving.

Once she finally arrived, she dashed like a cartoon into the Lab. She kicked the door down and saw Filia, Squigly, Carol, and Marie pinned to the ground. Hive had her Blasters pointed at Marie’s head.

”Peacock?” Everyone asked.

”Boss?” Andy Anvil and Tommy Ten-Tons asked.

“Patricia!” Marie said.

”Wait, you know her?” Big Band asked Marie.

”Yes, we do.” Peacock said.

Then she pulled out her trusty Toon Pistol and aimed it toward the Lab 8 crew.

“Now, them go.”

”You work for the Skullgirl?!” Hive asked.

“No, she works for me. Also, she’s not the Skullgirl but is at the same time too.” Peacock said.

“What?” Andy Anvil asked

Avery jumped out of Peacock’s hat.

”The boss is sayin’ that she is the Skullgirl But is a good one. None of that “Destroying the World” schtick.” Avery said.

”So let her go and trust me, she won’t harm ‘ya.”

Carol faked a cough.

”Oh yeah, those three as well.”

”Oh so we don’t count!?!” Samson exclaimed.

”Not now, Samson!” Filia whispered.

”No! Anytime is the perfect time to do this!”

“Can it, You hairy parasite!” Peacock said.

“That does it!”

Samson tried to attack Peacock but she dodged it but accidentally shot the gun at Big Band. The tiny bowling ball went inside one of his instruments and the instrument shot it out at Hive’s Blasters. It hit the Blasters away and the Blasters shot toward Leduc. He flew into Ileum and the kids and he accidentally electrocuted Big Band. Then all of his instruments played very loudly. Everyone covered their ears. Marie started to feel pain in her chest again. She flew out of the lab to somewhere else that was far away from this place. Filia, Squigly, and Carol saw this as an opportunity too. They got up and ran to Peacock’ side. Big Band’s instruments stopped playing and everyone uncovered their ears.

”Can we all just get along?” Squigly asked.

”She’s right! Marie is in control of the Skull Heart and doesn’t want to kill anyone. When she killed some people here, the Skull Heart was controlling her. She wasn’t in control of her actions. Please trust me.”

”Prove it.” Leduc said.

”What?”

”Prove it. Get the Skullgirl and prove it.” Hive said.

“So, we’re just goning to give the Skullgirl a chance?!?” Stanley said.

“Yes, just a very tiny, a very unstable, chance. We’re going to be prepared this time though.” Hive said.

”It killed my best friend and you expect me to “forgive” her and “give her a chance”? I would rather die!” Stanley said before going to his office.

“Well, I’ll be right back.” Peacock said as she dashed towards her toon car. She didn’t have a clue in the world where Marie could be so she decided to go all over New Meridian.

* * *

Marie didn’t know where she was neither did she care. She thought she saw a sign saying it was ‘Little Innsmouth’ but the pain was too strong. She flew up to a rooftop and fell down on her knees. She yelled in pain while clutching her chest. She lied down.

’ ** _Marie_**...’ The Skull Heart said in her mind.

”No! Go away!” Marie said, afraid and weak.

**_ ’You are only delaying the inevitable...’ _ **

_“_ No, I’m going to keep fighting! I will fight for my life and you’re not taking Patricia or anyone else away from me!”

‘ ** _Nobody truly cares about you, even your so called friends. All they want is to destroy you...like the person behind you.’_**

Marie looked up and behind her to see someone tackling her. She opened her eyes and saw a cat girl. She raised her hand and her claws sharpened. When she went for the kill, Marie grabbed her hand and almost threw her off the rooftop.

”Damnit. Well, I guess you want to do this the hard way, wouldn’t NYA?”

“Who are you?” Marie asked.

”Around here, they call me Ms. Fortune. Everywhere else, they call me the “Thieving Feline!” She said enthusiastically.

“They really call you that?”

”Yeah, no, they don’t. But now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna be taking that heart of yours.” Ms. Fortune said.

”Trust me when I say this, you do not want to wish on the Skull Heart. It will make you like me; always hunted, always in agonizing pain, and alone...”

”I don’t care! I just want my family back!” Ms. Fortune said, charging at Marie.

Marie dashed out of the way of her attack.

”Look, I don’t want to fight you.”

“Good, you’re just gonna make this a helluva lot easier!”

Ms. Fortune charged again, waving her claws towards Marie, yelling “Cat Scratch Fever!” She actually scratched Marie in the cheek. Ms. Fortune charged again but a giant hand made out of bones came through the building, out the rooftop, and grabbed Ms. Fortune.

”Let me go!”

Marie was going to say something but she felt pain again, then it was gone. The Skull Heart took control of her. The bone hand’s grip tightened, squeezing Ms. Fortune. She yelled in pain while the grip kept tightening. Ms. Fortune started to gasp for air. She launched her head towards Marie and head butted her. Marie backed up, holding her head. Marie was back in control. She looked back to see Ms. Fortune, grabbing her tail, detatching it, and used it as a sword, slashing at her. She cut Marie’s Maid dress twice before Marie punched her. Ms. Fortune flew off the rooftop. Marie realized what she did and ran to save her. But out of nowhere, Ms. Fortune’s hand punched Marie square in the face.

“Don’t count meowt just yet!” Ms. Fortune said, reattaching her hand.

Marie then yelled in pain and clutched her chest, breathing heavily.

”Are you okay? Did I break a bone or two? Or nine?” Ms. Fortune said, clearly confused.

”I told you before...you...you don’t want the heart...it...AARRGH!!” Marie yelled.

Marie blacked out and fell off the rooftop, unconscious. Ms. Fortune gasped. She went over, extended her arms, using her veins, and grabbed Marie’s arm. She pulled her back up and lied her down. This was it. Her chance to get the Skull Heart and wish her family back. Her claws sharpened and she raised her hand to slash the Heart out of her. But, she hesitated.

’What if she was right about the Skull Heart? Sure, I would get the Fishbone Gang back, but would it be worth to possibly throw my life away? Plus, I already have Minette and Yu-Wan.’ Ms. Fortune thought.

She put her hand down and relaxed, her claws returning back to normal. She picked Marie up and brought her through the back of Yu-Wan’s restaurant. When she entered, Minette and Yu-Wan were taking a lunch break. The restaurant was closed in their lunch breaks. They only had 10 minutes of that break.

”Hey, Minette. Hey, Yu-Wan.”

They turned around.

”Oh, hi Nadia, what’s up?” Minette said.

She gasped when she saw Marie in her arms.

”Is...is she the Skullgirl?” Yu-Wan asked.

”Yep.”

“What are you planning to do with her?” Minette asked, worriedly.

”I’m just gonna watch her until she awakens.” Ms. Fortune said

” I thought you were going to wish on the heart.” Yu-Wan said.

”Well, after a bit of thinking, I don’t really need it. Even though I truly miss them, their memories still live on with with me. And the Skullgirl wants to live. She could’ve “killed” me but she didn’t. She just kept apologizing.”

”Wow, she doesn’t sound as harmful as the legend says.” Minette said.

Marie started opening her eyes.

”Mmm...where am I?”

”Well, you’re in the best restaurant in Little Innsmouth! With the best people running it!” Ms. Fortune said, praising Minette and Yu-Wan.

”Why did you help me? I thought you wanted to wish on the Skull Heart.” Marie asked.

”Y’know, I’ve been thinking about what you said and I saw you were in pain, so I helped.”

”Thank you...”

Then the door opened and the door tune rang.

”I’ll go get it.” Minette said.

The others did just that while Minette went to see who the customer was. It was a young teenager and she looked like a cartoon character.

”Um, I’m sorry, but we’re on lunch break.” Minette said.

”I ain’t ordering anythin’. I’m just looking for someone.” The young toon said.

“Oh, can you describe the person?”

“Well, she has gray hair, pale skin, red eyes, a maid outfit, and two skull-like beads holding her pigtails. Have you seen her?”

”Oh, she’s in the kitchen right now.”

”Really?!?”

Peacock ran into the kitchen. Marie, Ms. Fortune, and Yu-Wan looked behind them to see Peacock. Marie’s eyes widened. She floated out of Ms. Fortune’s arms and towards Peacock as fast as she could.

”Patricia!”

”Marie!”

They both embraced in a tight hug and they both floated. During this, Ms. Fortune snuck out.

”Are you okay, Marie?”

”Yes, I’m fine, you?”

”Great.”

”So, what happened while I was gone?”

”Well, it took a bit of convincing but Lab 8 is giving you a chance.”

”Really?”

”Yeah, really!”

Marie hugged Peacock tighter. She was so happy being with Peacock, and she truly loved her.

* * *

Stanley was watching old recordings of the cameras in the lab, seeing if he could use anything to convince the others that the Skullgirl was completely evil. What he saw didn’t help, actually it proved his case to be even more wrong. She was cleaning some clothes, making dinner for the others, cleaning the house, all that. But in one recording he saw something he thought he’d never see.

”Brain Drain...” Stanley said to himself.

Then, the black fog with pink electricity appeared behind him silently.

”Is he...trying to get...that girl with the X scar on her face? I’ve gotta show the others this.”

Stanley then got electrocuted by Brain Drain. Stanley saw a glimpse of him before he blacked out.

”Heh. A little too close there Stanley.” Brain Drain then put a bot of Stanley, who looked exactly like him. Even his skin looks the same.

”But not close enough.” He then grabbed Stanley and disappeared.

**_ * * * _ **

Once Peacock and Marie arrived at the Lab and they got out of the car, Marie decided to make Peacock swear on something.

”Patricia?”

”Yeah?”

”The Skull Heart...it’s getting stronger with each passing day.”

”Don’t worry, you’ll get through this.”

”But I don’t know that. Patricia, can you promise me something?”

”Yeah. What is it?”

”Promise me...if the Skull Heart takes control of me again...promise me, you’ll kill me.”

Peacock’s eyes widened. She backed up a little and fell to her knees. “W-what? N-n-no, no, I can’t do that.”

”Patricia...” Marie said, lowering herself to level with Peacock.

”There has to be some other way. We don’t have to do this.”

”Patricia.”

”I’m not gonna kill you! If the world dies, I don’t care! I just want to be with you!”

”Patricia Watson!!”

Peacock shut up, tears still streaming down her face.

”I love you, Peacock. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But this is better for everyone else. If the Skull Heart controls me again, I’ll be dead for real this time. Just please promise me that.”

Peacock was surprised. She called her ‘Peacock’ instead of ‘Patricia’. She tearfully nodded.

”I love you too, Marie Korbel.”

She then hugged her tightly. Then, they heard a few thumps in the trunk of the Toon Car. Peacock wiped all of her tears and went to open it. There were a ton of body parts and a head on top.

”Helllooo!!” Ms. Fortune said.

”Ms. Fortune! What are you doing in there?” Marie asked.

”Well, I was just checking out the place you were crashing and, uh, it looks cool.”

”Are ya tryna’ ask if you can live here?” Peacock asked.

”For one night. Pwease?”

”* _sigh_ * Fine. Just don’t piss on the carpet.” Peacock joked.

”Just give me a litter box and everything will be _purr_ fect.” Ms. Fortune joked as well.

Peacock just opened the door and instantly got electrocuted. 

“ARRGGH!!!” Peacock yelled before falling to the ground.

“Patricia!” Marie said, running to Peacock’s side.

”Ouch, is she okay?” Ms. Fortune asked.

”She’ll be alright. You two, on the other hand, won’t be.” Stanley said, recharging the electric gun.

”Wh...what did you...d-do to me....” Peacock said, electricity still around her.

”I paralyzed you. Temporarily. Short circuiting, your, well, circuits is all it takes.”

”B-but why?...” 

“She killed my friends. Even my best friend! And you expect me to forgive her? Not even if my life depended on it!”

”Stanley, what are you doing?” Big Band asked behind Stanley.

He didn’t answer. He just started shooting at Marie and Ms. Fortune. The two dodged his attacks. Big Band charged at him to get him to stop. But Stanley supercharged his gun, pointed at Big Band, and shot him, sending Big Band flying and crashing through a few walls. He landed in the room the others were in. Everyone dropped what they were doing and went to Big Band’s side.

”Ben, are you okay? What happened?” Leduc asked.

”I’ll be alright, but Stanley has lost it. He paralyzed Peacock and is trying to kill the Skullgirl and some Cat Lady chick.” Everyone, except Big Band, Ileum and the kids, went out to stop Stanley. Once they arrived, he was still shooting at Marie and Ms. Fortune.

Marie was afraid to do anything in case the Skull Heart took control again. Ms. Fortune then extended her arms and grabbed the gun.

”I’ll be taking that!” Ms. Fortune said, wanking the gun out of his fins.

”You imbecile! I’m trying to kill the Skullgirl!” Stanley yelled.

”Aww, I’m sorry. But I’m not going to let that happen.” Ms. Fortune said

”Neither are we!” Filia said behind Stanley.

Stanley looked behind him to see Filia, Squigly, Carol, Leduc, and Hive.

He grumbled, threw his gun off the cliff, and walked away.

”Patricia!” Marie yelled as she ran toward her. “Are you okay?”

”Yeah...can’t move anything, but I’m fine otherwise.”

The others also ran to her side, concerned for her.

She was slowly getting back up with the help of Marie and Filia.

”Thanks, I should be fine now.”

Then Stanley lifted his fin, with an electric chip attached to it. The gun flew up, hit Peacock in the head, making her unconscious, and used Force Push and pushed everyone off the cliff. 

Marie grabbed Ms. Fortune and the unconscious Peacock and flew up. Carol grabbed Leduc and used her Buer Drive as a helicopter rotor. Hive used the jet pack attached to her and flew up with the help of her blasters. Samson covered Filia up.

”Samson! Wait, we have to get Squigly!”

”If those two died before, they can survive this.”

Filia sighed as she crawled out of Samson.

”Kid, what are you doing?!?” She jumped off Samson as far as she could and reached for Squigly.

”Squigly! Grab my hand!”

Squigly grabbed her hand and Filia tugged and held her close. Samson then covered both of them, but didn’t have time to cover Filia’s left hand. So once they collided with the water from that height and speed, Filia felt her left hand and wrist break. She yelled in pain.

”Filia, are you okay?!?” Squigly asked.

Filia held slightly over her wrist, where it wasn’t broken, and tears of pain was streaming down her face as she was breathing heavily, trying not to cry.

”I tried to tell you kid! You shouldn’t have saved those corpses!” Samson said.

”SHUT THE FUCK UP, SAMSON!!!” Filia yelled in the top of her lungs.

Everyone’s eyes widened, including Samson’s. She wouldn’t cuss at anyone, even if she was forced to with her life. But she had enough. Enough of Samson’s bullshit. Him saying she should have let her crush die. Samson climbed up in silence.

*   *   *

Stanley walked up to Big Band, Ileum, Andy, Tommy, and the kids.

”My purpose is almost complete.”

”Work? WORK?! You could have killed them and you expect us to forgive you because it’s “your purpose?” Big Band said.

”But my creator has said so. It is part of his revenge plan.”

”Creator? Revenge Plan? Stanley, what’s going on?” Ileum asked.

But Stanley didn’t reply. He just lifted his lab coat. There were bombs that could level the place.

The kids cried, screamed, and hid behind Iluem. Big Band just grabbed him with a giant chipped bell and dashed outside.

Everyone else saw Big Band dashing towards them. 

“Oh god, here we go again.” Ms. Fortune said.

But Big Band stopped.

”I’m sorry Stanley.”

He then threw the chipped bell into the ocean. Then a big explosion went off, causing a big stream of water went straight up and then down.

”What the hell just happened?” Hive asked.

“I...I don’t know but Stanley was himself one moment, a suicide bomber the next.” Big Band said.

Everyone looked down, except for Filia who just went back inside to see Iluem about her broken hand and wrist.

*   *   *

“Why would Stanley do that?” Leduc asked, through the monitor.

”All according to plan.” Brain Drain said.

”You won’t get away with this, Brain Drain. They’ll find me eventually!” Stanley said, handcuffed to a very sturdy pipe.

”Yeah, right. I just have to wait till Valentine comes back. Report to me what she thinks is suspicious.”

He then switched the footage to earlier when Ms. Fortune and Marie were fighting in Little Innsmouth.

”That one,” Brain Drain said, referring to Ms. Fortune, “is interesting. I used the last of the artificial skin on the Stanley Bot but that won’t stop me. Back to work.” Brain Drain said, preparing to make a new robot to execute his plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skullgirls still takes place in the 70s (like in the game) but I had to include Sunflower. It’s my favorite song, period.


	5. The Real Meaning of Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cerebella has been tasked with getting my Life Gem. But lately she's been questioning what family truly means. Lab 8 may help her find the answer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hive has no backstory nor real name. So I gave her both. And I heard both her and Leduc have a bro and sis relationship so for this story, I just made them brother and sister.

After her legendary performance at the Cirque de Cartes, Cerebella was called down to meet Vitale. Cerebella really, really loved Vitale. But he’s been a little more stern. More meaner and vicious and less caring. Cerebella was more worried about him than what he’s capable of doing.  
  
She was told to meet him in Lorenzo’s room. She hasn’t seen him ever since the Life Gem was stolen. His panic when the Life Gem disappeared felt like an old man panicking. Now that she thought about it, almost everything he’s done felt old.  
  
Once she entered the room, Vitale was sitting on Lorenzo’s chair, looking out the giant window behind him.  
  
“Ah, Cerebella. Come, sit.” Vitale said said, gesturing in the chair in front of him.  
  
Cerebella did as she was told.  
  
”Do you remember the Life Gem?”  
  
Cerebella nodded.  
  
“We identified the culprit as Ms. Fortune, who we thought died along with the rest of the Fishbone Gang. We don’t know where she is at the moment, but we have a few people she talks to most. One of the daughters of the River King and the one that owns the restaurant over there. Minette and Yu-Wan, I presume. Now, I’m tasking you to find this Ms. Fortune character. And if she doesn’t give it back or you don’t catch her, both of those people will be executed.  
  
Cerebella’s eyes widened. She didn’t even think people’s lives would be on the line when she got assigned for Vitale’s personal enforcer. She was doing this out of love for Vitale, but now she was starting to question his feelings toward her.  
  
”Understand?”  
  
Cerebella reflexively nodded, even though she still was conspicuous about it.  
  
”Great, now, get on with it dear.”  
  
She got up and walked out of the room. She sighed.  
  
’What am I going to do?’ Cerebella thought to herself.  
  
Then a knife whizzed past her face.  
  
“So the suckup enforcer has her first assignment, eh? Try not to suck dick at it.”  
  
”Back off Beatrix, cut her some slack. You’ll do great, Cerebella.” Feng said, coming from behind Beatrix.  
  
“Thanks Feng.”  
  
”Maybe if trying to fuck Vitale doesn’t work out for ya, Fing Feng Foom over here can be an awful substitute.”  
  
”Just ignore her, c’mon, let’s get you a snack before you leave.” Feng said, and Cerebella followed.  
  
*  * *  
  
As they both drank some hot chocolate in their room, Feng really had to ask Cerebella a question.  
  
”Hey Cerebella?”  
  
”Yeah?”  
  
Feng looked around first before asking said question  
  
”Don’t you think Vitale is just using you?”  
  
Cerebella stopped drinking. She gulped the rest of the hot chocolate that was already in her mouth.  
  
”Waddaya mean?”  
  
”I mean, yeah, he goes to our performances sometimes and put a giant roof over our heads but he doesn’t give you any sort of attention or praise unless he needs you to do something, then he acknowledges you even exist.”  
  
”Well he’s a very busy man. So of course he can’t help run the Medici and continually give me praise 24/7.”  
  
”Bella, I know you want his love and all that but just open your eyes a little. Yeah, the Medici is a gang of bad people, but I’m here because I need to be for my family. I’m not here for the theft, murder, and shadiness.”  
  
”My eyes are completely open! I owe them with my life, the one they saved, Feng. And if that means letting them do whatever they want, that’s fine with me.”  
  
Feng knew this was going nowhere so she tried to get out of it.  
  
”Oh would you look at the time..I..I gotta go.” Feng said, opening the door  
  
”Wait, Feng!”  
  
But the door closed.  
  
”Ugh, great....”  
  
She then turned on the T.V. and it played the news.  
  
”Over at the mysterious Lab at the cliff, there’s been a huge water explosion over there, causing some rumbles around the area.”  
  
Cerebella saw closer and saw some blobs. But one had a light blue shirt, cat ears, and white hair. She located Ms. Fortune.  
  
“Vice, we gotta mission to do!” She said as she grabbed the hat parasite and went off. But as she left the building, reconsidered this even more. ‘Was it worth to kill two innocent people over? Did Vitale really love her? Feng was right. I have to warn her instead.’  
  
*  * *  
  
This morning was a silent one in Lab 8. Peacock would be watching cartoons, the kids would be watching with her or playing, and everyone else would be doing their own thing, whether it be singing, listening to music, reading romance novels, playing instruments, and practicing with their synthetic parasites. But nobody was doing none of those things.  
  
Peacock remembered how she treated Stanley and mentally broke down. She cried the majority of the morning and Marie was hugging her, comforting her, telling her everything’s okay and it’s not Peacock’s fault. Filia, who’s left hand was still broken, was sad and frightened that she could never talk to Samson, or anyone, ever again. Samson was still sleeping. Ms. Fortune was sleeping on the couch. Big Band, Hive, Leduc, Ileum, and the kids were in Stanley’s lab room to mourn his “death”.  
  
Squigly and Carol were out in the balcony, talking about what they were going to do to make things right.  
  
“What should we do? Everything went to hell so fast.” Carol said.  
  
”I don’t know, Carol. I know we can’t fix Stanley’s death, but we can help everyone else.” Squigly replied.  
  
”Okay, I’ll help Lab 8. You help Filia and Samson.”  
  
”Can I ask why?” Leviathan asked.  
  
”Because Squigly has a crush on Filia.”  
  
Squigly’s one visible eye widened.  
  
“You knew?”  
  
”Well, it was kinda obvious.”  
  
Squigly covered her blushed face with both her hands.  
  
”It’s fine, to be honest, I support you two. You can do it. Alright, well, let’s do this. Good luck.” Carol said, walking off.  
  
”Milady, do you need help with this?” Leviathan asked.  
  
”No thanks Leviathan. I have to talk to her myself.  
  
Filia was tired. She hasn’t got a single second of sleep. On the other hand, Samson was able to sleep. Filia regretted everything she said to Samson but was afraid he wouldn’t accept her apology. She heard three soft knocks on her door.  
  
”Who is it?” Filia asked, tired and nervous.  
  
”It’s Squigly. Can I come in?”  
  
Filia’s heart rose. She was happy to hear that voice again. But she was also afraid that she came to talk about last night. Still...  
  
”Yeah, you can come on in.”  
  
Squigly opened the door and saw Filia wrapped up in a blanket. Filia tapped on a spot on the bed, signifying for Squigly to sit next to her. Squigly sat on said spot and spoke up.  
  
“Filia, do you need help?”  
  
”I...I don’t know...”  
  
”I know you didn’t mean those things last night. There was a lot going on at the moment. By the way, how is your hand?”  
  
”Illeum said I was lucky. Any faster and my hand would’ve gone splat.”  
  
Silence.  
  
”...Squigly?”  
  
”Yes?”  
  
”I’m going to say something that could ruin our friendship. But it could also do more.”  
  
Squigly nodded.  
  
Filia took a deep breath.  
  
”I...I love you, Sienna. I’ve fallen for you since the day we met. And I heard what you said to Leviathan two nights ago. I’m sorry.”  
  
Squigly was shocked. Filia knew everything this entire time and felt the same way. She put a hand on Filia’s cheek. Filia looks up at Squigly.  
  
”I love you too, Filia.”  
  
Filia’s eyes watered. Yeah, she read a lot of romance novels, watched a few romance movies, and all that. But actually being told that made her happy.  
  
She wrapped her arms around Squigly’s hip and smashed her lips onto Squigly’s. Squigly wrapped her arms around the back of Filia’s neck. Even though Squigly’s stitches on her mouth prevented the two from having a real kiss, they still loved every second of it. They disbanded from the kiss after 10 seconds.  
  
“Thanks Squigly.”  
  
”I need to Thank you.”  
  
”Mmmm where am I ?” Samson said, waking up.  
  
”Samson, I’m very sorry...about everything I said last night.” Filia said.  
  
”Eh, it’s fine. Shows you still have some guts in ya kid. I know you wanted to help them. But I was, uh...”  
  
”Concerned for me?” Filia finished  
  
”Yeah sure, that too.”  
  
”Wow. Did you just sympathize with someone for once?” Leviathan asked.  
  
”Don’t get used to it, snake!”  
  
Filia and Squigly giggled a little bit.  
  
”Squigly, can I see your other eye?”  
  
Squigly was a little reluctant but decided to show her. She pulled back the tuft of hair covering her right eye. Except there was no eye. It was just an eyehole.  
  
”Who did this?” Filia said, putting her hand on Squigly’s right cheek.  
  
”I...I don’t remember who exactly. All I remember is that person was a part of the Medicis. I was afraid somebody would see me as a freak or keep calling me a zombie.” Squigly said, saddened.  
  
”Sienna...” Filia said as she put her forehead against Squigly’s forehead. “You’re beautiful to me and it doesn’t matter if you’re called a freak or a zombie. Deep down inside,” she said as she pointed at Squigly’s heart, “you are Sienna “Squigly” Contiello and you’re perfect just the way you are.”  
  
”Thank you, Filia.” Squigly said as she kissed Filia again.  
  
”*cough* Eewww! *cough* *hack* *wheeze*” Samson complained.  
  
”Stop being so dramatic, Samson!”  
  
Once they disbanded, Filia went under the covers.  
  
”I didn’t even sleep last night. Do you want to join me?”  
  
Squigly nodded. She got under the covers with Filia. Filia was knocked out instantly. Squigly giggled.  
  
”I love you Filia.” She said as she kissed her forehead.  
  
*  * *  
  
  
  
Carol knocked a few times on the lab door.  
  
“Hey, can I come in?” Carol asked.  
  
“Yeah, doors open.” Leduc said from the other side.  
  
Carol opened the door and everyone was there.  
  
“I just came in here to say I’m sorry.”  
  
“You don’t have to apologize for anything. You didn’t do anything wrong. We don’t know what truly happened or who’s behind this, but I know it’s not you.” Hive said.  
  
”I know I’m not a person from here but Stanley seemed like a nice person.”  
  
”He was. When the Skullgirl, sorry, Marie came along, he just had a rough time.” Illeum said.  
  
”Speaking of, we never where you’re from. Where did you come from?” Big Band said.  
  
”...Lab 0. The people who did this to me are named Brain Drain and Valentine.”  
  
Everyone’s eyes widened.  
  
”What?”  
  
”Valentine, that bitch!” Hive exclaimed  
  
”Language.” Ileum said.  
  
”...sorry.”  
  
”You know her?”  
  
”Yes. Both her and Brain Drain. They used to be part of Lab 8. But ever since we argued about how we were going to help Peacock, we disbanded. I’d never thought they’d stoop to this level.” Big Band said.  
  
”Wait, then doesn’t that mean that Valentine or Big Band could’ve caused Stanley to do this?” Leduc asked.  
  
”Knowing what Valentine did to us, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Hive stated.  
  
”I feel like I’m the reason Brain Drain targeted Stanley. I-“ Carol started.  
  
”No. You’re not. Brain Drain probably targeted Stanley because he’s the only scientist left here. And you’re not Lab 0’s anymore. You’re with us now. We may not be able to fix what they did to you but we can be like a family. Uh, that is if you want to....” Leduc said, blushing towards the end of it. Thanks to his collar covering his cheeks, nobody could tell.  
  
“Yeah, I’d love to. Thank you. All of you. I’m going to go check on the others now. Hope you guys feel better.” Carol said, starting to leave.  
  
Hive elbowed Leduc while giving him a face, screaming ‘I know you like her like that.’  
  
“What? I don’t like her like that.” Leduc mouthed, blushing again.  
  
One of the kids tugged on Ileum’s hand.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
”What does ‘bitch’ mean?” she asked.  
  
Ileum glared at Hive.  
  
”Uh, I’ll come with you Carol.” she said as she walked away.  
  
Once they got out of there, Ms. Fortune was out and about.  
  
”Good Morning, Ms....”  
  
”Fortune. Ms. Fortune. And usually mornings are nyaver good.”  
  
“Did you hear the buzz? That pun made no sense.” Hive said.  
  
Ms. Fortune smirked a little.  
  
”That one didn’t either but whatever keeps your beehive under control.”  
  
“I’m gonna go check in on Filia and Squigly. Can you two check on Peacock and Marie for me please?”  
  
”Sure thing.” “Okay.” Hive and Ms. Fortune said.  
  
Carol knocked on Filia’s door a few times.  
  
”Hey Filia, it’s Carol, can I come in?”  
  
No response.  
  
”Filia? Squigly?”  
  
She finally opened the door and blushed at what she saw.  
  
Filia and Squigly cuddling while sleeping. Leviathan must've went into Squigly’s head, because he wasn’t out.  
  
”Help me!” Samson said. “They’re giving me Gay cooties!”  
  
”Have fun.” Carol said, smiling.  
  
”No! Come back, you human helicopter!!” Samson exclaimed  
  
Carol closed the door, giggling at the last statement Samson said.  
  
*  * *  
  
Ms. Fortune just opened the door and Hive followed.  
  
“Peacock?” Hive said.  
  
”Hold your horses, I’m coming.” Peacock said from the other part of her room.  
  
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Marie asked.  
  
”Yeah, I’ll manage.”  
  
The two walked towards Hive and Ms. Fortune.  
  
”So how’s the others?” Marie asked  
  
“They’re still mourning but everything else is fine.” Hive replied.  
  
”I’m sorry for you guy’s loss.” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
“It’s fine. You’ve lost people too, right?” Marie asked.  
  
Ms. Fortune ears drooped. “Yeah...I lost the Fishbone Gang. They were my family when nobody else was. The reasons I steal things is because of survival, for both me and the homeless. I usually take from the corrupted rich people. But if it’s an emergency, I take it from anyone. The last theft the Fishbone Gang tried was to steal the Life Gem. We got it but I accidentally made some noise and they caught us. Before they killed us, I ate the Gem as a last resort. Then...”  
  
“Then what?” Peacock asked.  
  
”If she doesn’t want to tell, she doesn’t have to.” Hive replied to Peacock.  
  
”...no it’s fine. They dismembered me and the rest of them and dumped our remains in the ocean. I woke up, almost drowning. Once I got back to Little Innsmouth, I decided to hide from public people except Minette and Yu-Wan. Everytime I look at myself, I just can’t help but think their death was all my fault and what happened to the Fishbone Gang because of me.” Ms. Fortune cried. She was on her knees, sobbing. “Once I heard the Skull Heart was back, I thought I could wish them back, undo my mistake. But, I didn’t. I realized even though my family is gone, I still had Minette and Yu-Wan. But I keep feeling guilty and responsible everyday.”  
  
”Hey, it’s alright. It’s not your fault.” Hive said, taking a knee and putting her hand on her shoulder. “And the Medici are monsters. Have no sympathy for human life and only want to take over New Meridian.”  
  
”How do you know what they’re capable of?”  
  
”One night, after a movie with me, my brother Leduc, and my parents, Medicis jumped us for our money. Our parents refused and they killed both of them. They tortured Leduc and me by breaking our limbs, slashing us, punching and kicking our faces and guts until their fists and shoes were completely drenched in blood. Once they thought we were dead, they threw our almost lifeless, contorted and bloody bodies on the street. Nobody on the street gave two shits about a 14 year old girl and 16 year old boy until Avian took us both in.” Hive said.  
  
”During the war, they funded the slaveowners who tortured me and Marie. One night, they almost beat me to death while Marie got to safety.” Peacock said.  
  
”I was too afraid to do anything so I ran. Once I found the Skull Heart, I wished to destroy all Medicis. But instead turned me into this.” Marie added.  
  
Ms. Fortune wiped the tears off her cheeks as she stood up.  
  
“At least we all have something in common. Thanks for this.”  
  
”Don’t sweat it.” Hive said.  
  
”I’m gonna go back to Little Innsmouth. See ya guys later!”  
  
”See ya!” “Stay safe!” “Say hi to your friends for me.” Peacock, Marie, And Hive said.  
  
As Ms. Fortune opened the door, there was a girl in orange and brown getup, with cream colored sleeves. She had turquoise hair, with a band tying a small amount of it up.  
  
”Um, can I help nya?” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
”Uh...”  
  
”I know who you are and let me just say, I don’t like Medicis, so you have 9 seconds to spit it out before I punch your face in.”  
  
”Wait, what?!? No, you have to listen to me! Something big is going to happen and....”  
  
”Time’s up.” Ms. Fortune said as she punched Cerebella’s face.  
  
Cerebella held her nose. Ms. Fortune tackled her. And tried to punch her face again, but Cerebella caught the fists.  
  
”Look, we don’t have much time! Just listen to me!”  
  
”Yeah, right! You probably have gunman aiming at me right now.”  
  
”No! It’s just me, trying to say-“  
  
But then Peacock, Hive, Marie, Leduc, and Carol walked out front.  
  
”Hey what’s happenin’ here?” Peacock asked  
  
”It’s the Medici clown!” Leduc said.  
  
”I’m not a clown!” Cerebella exclaimed.  
  
”Why are you here?” Marie asked, threateningly.  
  
”I’m here to warn her!” Cerebella said, pointing at Ms. Fortune.  
  
”About what exactly?” Ms. Fortune asked.  
  
“Your friends. They sent me to retrieve the Life Gem, but if I don’t get it, they’ll kill your friends, Minette and Yu-Wan.”  
  
”WHAT!?!” Ms. Fortune exclaimed, now choking her.  
  
”*cough* I came...to try to help you... *hack*” Cerebella said, attempting to breathe for air.  
  
Ms. Fortune was about to dig her nails into her throat, and snap her neck. But she took a deep breath and let go.  
  
Cerebella breathed as hard as she could.  
  
”Okay, clown. What do we do?”  
  
”Ugh, can you stop calling me clown?”  
  
”Okay, fine. Cerebella, what do we do?”  
  
Cerebella told them the plan and they went to get the others.  
  
*  * *  
  
“What’s taking her so god damn long?” Black Dahlia asked.  
  
”We should take matters on our own hands!” Beatrix protested.  
  
”Well, I do have a plan. Beatrix, get Feng and put her with the others. Dahlia, open the chamber without letting the others escape. And Beatrix, do whatever you want to get her in there.” Vitale said.  
  
Beatrix grinned. “Yes, Vitale.” Beatrix said as she and Black Dahlia left the room.  
  
Then a small door opened and a very old, withering man came out.  
  
”Do you have my Life Gem yet?!?” yelled the old man.  
  
“No father, but we’re close. We’re raising the stakes so Cerebella hurried up with it.” Vitale said.  
  
”That little brat better deliver. I don’t want to call that monster in...”  
  
‘Was I a little harsh on her? Was she too naïve? I think I need to talk to her about it again.’ Feng thought from her bed. She then heard a few harsh knocks on her door. She flipped off the bed and walked to the door. She opened the door to see Beatrix, flipping a knife.  
  
”What do you want Beatrix? To tease me more?” Fang asked being sarcastic in the second part.  
  
”You’re coming with me.” Beatrix said, sternly.  
  
Silence. Then Feng bursted our laughing. Beatrix just glared and stopped flipping her knife. Fang saw this and slowly stopped laughing.  
  
“Oh, you’re serious. Well sorry but I don’t follow jerks. So if you’ll excuse me...” Feng said as she tried to get past Beatrix. But Beatrix lightly pushed her and slashed Feng’s right arm with the knife in her hand. Fang cried in pain as she held the slash that spread across her entire arm.  
  
”I said YOURE COMING WITH ME!!” Beatrix yelled as she violently grabbed Feng’s cut arm and pulled her.  
  
As tears of pain streamed down Feng’s cheeks, she asked Beatrix, “Why are you doing this?”  
  
”Just following orders.”  
  
Once they arrived in the holding room, Black Dahlia was nowhere in sight.  
  
“God damnit, where is that cyborg bitch? Whatever.” Beatrix said  
  
Once she unlocked and opened the door, she was instantly blinded. Minette covered her face with a towel she had when she was taken. Yu-Wan got out of the room.  
  
”Get off of me you stupid fish fuck!!”  
  
Beatrix then took a knife from her arm, letting go of Feng and started slashing the air. Feng took a step back and kicked Beatrix into the room. Once she was in, they closed and locked the door. Feng then collapsed onto the floor due to blood loss.  
  
”Hey, stay with me! You’re gonna be okay!” Minette said to Feng to in panic.  
  
“Yeah...I’ll...I’ll be fine...” Feng said weakly  
  
”Can’t you get up?”  
  
Feng chuckled. “A performer always gets up.” She then attempted to get up but fell back down. Yu-Wan heard people coming.  
  
”Minette, there are more coming!” Yu-Wan said.  
  
”What?!? What are we going to do?”  
  
Feng pointed with her left arm to the nearest door.  
  
”Go in there.”  
  
Minette and Yu-Wan hesitated but picked her up and went into the men’s bathroom. Once they lied Feng down, Minette tied the towel around Feng’s cut arm.  
  
”We need to get you to a doctor fast.” Minette said  
  
”Thanks. But you two need to get out before me. If they find you, they’ll kill you on the spot.” Fang replied  
  
Then there were loud bangs in the vents above them. They got louder and some bickering was heard.  
  
”Get behind me!” Feng said.  
  
”No, you stay where you are. You need rest!” Minette snapped back.  
  
The voices got louder and louder. And once they were finally heard AND understood, the vents broke and Cerebella and Ms. Fortune fell down.  
  
”Nadia!” Minette and Yu-Wan exclaimed  
  
”Bella!” Feng said.  
  
”Guys!” Ms. Fortune said, running to hug them.  
  
”Feng, what happened to you?” Cerebella asked, carefully holding Feng’s arm.  
  
“Beatrix happened. She told me to follow her and when I said no, she did this.”  
  
”That bitch...” Cerebella mumbled.  
  
”Okay, so what do we do now?” Yu-Wan asked.  
  
”We escape through the vents.” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
But at that moment, three guys entered the bathroom.  
  
”Lunch is on me..” one of the goons said before noticing them.  
  
Ms. Fortune sighed as she extended both her arms and punched two of the goons so hard in their faces, they got knocked out. The last one started running away but then a blast was heard. The goon went flying past them. They peeked out through the doorway and saw Hive with one of her blasters steaming.  
  
”So much for getting in and getting out quietly.” Cerebella said.  
  
”What? No ‘thanks for helping out, Hive’?” Hive playfully said as she took off her goggles, and hood and the wasp-like mouth mask, which was attached to the hood.  
  
”Nya, you did it just to look cool.” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
Hive smirked. “Alright, let’s get out of here.” Hive said as her blasters melted back up to her shoulders.  
  
”Wait, I have to go check something first.” Cerebella said as she climbed back up to the vent.  
  
”I think I know what she’s going to do. You guys get out of here and take her to a hospital. I’m going with her.” Ms. Fortune said as she stretched her legs to jump up to the vents.  
  
Cerebella crawled through the vents until she was over Lorenzo’s office, where Vitale and Lorenzo were having their conversation.  
  
”What are you doing?!?” Ms. Fortune whispered. “We’ve got to get out of here!”  
  
”I have to know something first.” Cerebella replied.  
  
”I...you...ugh.”  
  
”And she’s STILL taking forever! Have any new ideas now?!?” Lorenzo said, all his patience gone.  
  
”Kill Feng and the others held captive. Let Cerebella come back to a surprise. And when she’s caught off guard, I’ll kill her myself. We’ll find someone who can use that hat of hers.” Vitale said.  
  
Ms. Fortune bared her teeth in anger. She could’ve jumped down from the vents, scratch both of their necks, and watch them die. But she heard quiet, muffled sobs. She looked at Cerebella, who was in tears and covered her mouth, trying out contain her sobs.  
  
”Hey. It’s alright. Honestly, those guys can go fuck themselves. You...you’re an amazing person. Don’t let those fuckers determine who you are or what you should like.” Ms. Fortune said, comforting Cerebella.  
  
Cerebella hugged Ms. Fortune as tight as she could. Ms. Fortune’s ears and tail perked up.  
  
“Thank you...” Cerebella said.  
  
The the door busted open and Beatrix stomped over to the desk.  
  
”Those three brats escaped! And Black Dahlia wasn’t there to help!”  
  
”Are you shitting me!?!?” Lorenzo exclaimed as he went over to the microphone and announced over the comns:  
  
ATTENTION ALL MEDICIS! THE THREE HOSTAGES HAVE ESCAPED! GRAB YOUR WEAPONS AND BE ON LOOK OUT!  
  
”Oh shit, we gotta go!” Ms. Fortune said. The two quickly climbed back to the bathroom.  
  
”We gotta find them before-“  
  
They heard gunshots. They immediately ran towards them. When they arrived, two Medicis were on the ground, suits a little burnt. Hive, Minette, and Yu-Wan were fine, but Feng was on the floor, pale, breathing heavily, towel completely drenched in blood, and couldn’t stand anymore.  
  
”We can’t save her in time!! She’s going to die!!” Minette cried.  
  
”Oh yes we will! Time to call in the rest!”  
  
Ms. Fortune pulled out an earpiece out of one of her belt pockets and put it in her ear.  
  
“Hello? Is this thing on? Listen! One of the captured is slowly dying. They know that they’re out. We need to execute this plan now!”  
  
”I could blast this wall and carry two people out of here.” Hive said.  
  
”Feng and Yu-Wan can go. I’ll stay.” Minette said.  
  
“Minette, you can die!” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
”It’s fine. They’re the ones who need to get to safety. I just need to stick with you guys and I’ll live.”  
  
Ms. Fortune nodded. Hive put on her face attire and the yellow stuff on her shoulders melted over her arms, morphing into solid blasters. She then shot the wall and a huge hole. Then she grabbed Feng and Yu-Wan.  
  
”Minette....thank you...for everything.” Feng said.  
  
Minette just smiled. Hive activated her jet pack and she flew off to the nearest hospital.  
  
”Hey, what’s happenin’ here?” Riccardo asked.  
  
”Um, they’re tryna break out?” Lawrence said.  
  
Riccardo sighed and face palmed. Cerebella put on Vice Versa and his arms became big.  
  
“Give it to them, Vice!” Cerebella said.  
  
Vice grabbed both of them and slammed them together, knocking Riccardo out.  
  
”Mommy? I see...stars and the moon...is that a...a bad sign?” Lawrence said before falling unconscious as well.  
  
“Well that was unnecessary.” Ms. Fortune said.  
  
Then they heard more gunshots. But it was downstairs in the lobby. The three of them ran down the stairs and when they arrived, a whole lot of Medici goons where shooting at Peacock, Marie, Big Band, Filia, Squigly, Carol, and Leduc. Carol, Big Band, and Marie were flying, Carol shooting spikes, Big Band, rammed into Medici Goons, and Marie, trying not to use too much of her power or the Skull Heart could take over, brought skeletons from the ground and threw flaming Skulls that come to her. Peacock was shooting some with her pistol. Leduc was electrocuting others without guns, and Filia and Squigly took out the ones that didn’t have guns.  
  
Medici goons saw Ms. Fortune, Cerebella, and Minette.  
  
”There’s one of the fugitives! Shoot them!”  
  
They also started shooting at the three. Ms. Fortune and Cerebella started flipping and dodging the gunfire. Minette just started to run towards the Lab 8 family, but got shot in the leg. Minette fell down, holding her leg.  
  
“MINETTE!” Ms. Fortune yelled. “I’ll kill all of you!!!” She started scratching and clawing through nearby Medici goons. Meanwhile, Minette crawled over to the Lab 8 family.  
  
“Leduc, take this girl out of here!” Big Band said.  
  
”You got it, Ben!” Leduc said as he picked her up and left to take her to the hospital.  
  
Carol saw this and something inside her felt jealous. She didn’t want to be, but she was.  
  
’Do I really think of him like THAT?’ She thought  
  
”Carol lookout!” Filia exclaimed  
  
Black Dahlia shot at Carol and Carol got out of the way, almost getting hit. Ms. Fortune jumped at her and she punched her. Dahlia didn’t even flinch. Ms. Fortune saw this and tried to punch her again but Black Dahlia caught the punch.  
  
“Pathetic.” She said before whacking Ms. Fortune with her gun, getting her on her knees. Black Dahlia then threw her to a group of Medici goons. The Medici goons then started beating on her. During the kicks and punches, Ms. Fortune grabbed her tail.  
  
”Cut! It! Out!” she yelled as she started slicing the goons with her sword-like tail. It didn’t affect the big guy of the bunch. He grabbed her head and started crushing it.  
  
“Ms. Fortune! Vice, let’s do this!” Cerebella said as Vice Verse bear hugged the goon while Cerebella was punching his face. The goon dropped Ms. Fortune. Both her and Cerebella punched the guy in the face, bringing him down. The two fist bumped.  
  
”Thanks for the save.”  
  
”Don’t mention it.”  
  
As Black Dahlia was about to shoot the two, the lobby window came crashing down. Hive flew in and the Medici goons aimed at her. But she spun around in the air, firing laser beams. Once she was done, every Medici goon that was standing is now knocked out. She dropped onto the ground.  
  
”Leave them alone, traitor.” Hive said to Black Dahlia.  
  
”Hive, how’s it going? How’s Avian?”  
  
Through her mask, Hive was furious. She tried to blast her but Dahlia grabbed one and pointed her arm gun at Hive’s head.

“Just has expected. Hanna May, a little girl who couldn't square up to save her parents, yet still thinks she can beat me? Weak.” Black Dahlia said.

"SHUT UP!!” Hive yelled.

She activated her jetpack and kneed Black Dahlia in the face, cracking her mask a little. But Dahlia still held on to Hive's arm, so when Hive was about to fly, Dahlia slammed her down on the ground, breaking her jetpack.

"If you're gonna fight me, at least don't act like a bitch and leave already.”

As Hive and Dahlia had their battle, more Medici goons came with more guns and knifes. Filia and Squigly took out the ones with knifes, Carol spun her Buer Drive has fast as she can to cut the bullets and distract the goons. Marie, Peacock, Big Band, Ms. Fortune, and Cerebella were taking out the gunners and standard goons.

"How long is this gonna go on?!?” Carol questioned.

"I ain'tcomplainin’! I get to clobber more mooks!” Peacock said as she bashed a pan into a goon's head.

Hive and Black Dahlia we're still standing, out of breath. One of Hive's goggle lenses was cracked while the other one was shattered, showing Hive's eye. Half of her wasp mouth mask was gone, showing half her mouth, which had blood coming from it. Black Dahlia's mask was more cracked and her gun out of ammo but was automatically reloading.

Hive got up and activated both of her blasters.

"You've improved from last time, I'll give you that. But I still got some tricks up my sleeve too.” Black Dahlia said.

She then quickly got up but Hive whacked her with both her blasters. Black Dahlia fell down to the ground and started to laugh maniacally.

"You're just as predictable as your “family” over there. You're just as predictable as her and her family.” She said, pointing at Squigly.

 Squigly's eye widened.

"Wait, you?” Squigly asked

"How's your other eye, Sienna? I feel like it rotted a while back.”

Squigly's fists shook in rage.

"You!”

"Who is she?” Filia asked.

"She's the one. She's the one who killed me and my family!”

"Plus you call me the traitor here? Cerebella and the hair girl freak betrayed the Medici name! And for that, both of you, will pay more than these Lab 8 fools.” Black Dahlia spat back.

"The Medicis can go burn in hell!” Cerebella exclaimed.

"And I may have the name, but I'll never be like any of you!” Filia replied.

"All of you will pay for this…” Black Dahlia threatened.

"Give It up, Dahlia. You've lost.” Hive said as she turned her back and walked away. The others followed.

Black Dahlia then aimed her explosive shot at Hive. It made a high pitched noise. Hive instantly turned around and shot the chandelier on top of Dahlia. It fell on Dahlia and her explosive gun, causing it to blow up. Once Dahlia landed, part of her gun arm gone, she held her arm and yelled in pain.

" **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING BRAT!!!!”** she yelled.

As everyone was leaving, Cerebella looked behind back, at the place she used to call home. Vitale and Beatrix were up in the 2nd level, watching Cerebella. Cerebella felt a shiver go down her spine as she exited the door. Ms. Fortune saw this and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's fine. They will eventually do something but remember that you still did the right thing. Plus you have us.”

"Thanks…” Cerebella said. Her eyes then widened as she went to the front of the group.

"Your power is so cool! How do you do it?” Filia asked Hive.

"Well, I have a synthetic parasite that allows yellow liquid aluminum on my armor arm shoulders to meet into solid blasters.” Hive replied.

"Awesome! So you don’t have normal arms?”

Hive just simply took off both of her armor on her arms to reveal perfectly normal arms and hands.

“Wow...”

Cerebella went in front of them.

"Guys? I'd just like to say thank you. I know you've had a rough history with the Medicis and I'm sorry if I-”

Big Band cut her off. “Say no more. It's fine. At least you saw the Medici for who they really are.”

"And the people they did hurt today are now in the hospital and should make a recovery.” Leduc said behind Cerebella.

"Nice work, bro.” Hive replied.

"Thanks, and from the looks of it, you didn't do too bad yourself.” Leduc replied

"Hey, I'm gonna go check in on Feng. See ya guys!” Cerebella said as she turned around to run.

"Wait! Why don't we all go?” Squigly asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we can check on Minette too.” Ms. Fortune said.

"Why do you guys want to? I mean I appreciate it but…”

“Because you're family.” Filia said.

'This is what it means to have a family. People that actually care and don't use you.’ Cerebella thought.

Cerebella smiled. “Already, then, let's go.”

Everyone followed Cerebella to the hospital as Ms. Fortune caught up with her. The two smiled at each other.

"Welcome to the family, Bella.” Ms. Fortune said.


	6. The Evil Medici Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a week after the Lab 8 gang’s attack at the casino, the Medici have been planning hard, Brain Drain has teamed up with them, and a new enemy emerges. Is the Lab 8 gang ready?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I’m back. Without doing anything on this site since February. Truth be told, a lot of things prevented me from posting earlier. The primary thing being this: At the time, when I post these I’m thrilled, thinking that it’s gonna be great. Now coming back to it after a while, I see so many things wrong with it. The characters are so Out of Character and the story is a little wobbly. Plus I had so many things packed into this chapter so I decided to scrap some ideas and revise the parts I didn’t like. I’m actually proud of this chapter but I feel like it’s going to alter not to long after. Anyways for those who were waiting for this, sorry for the wait, but here it is and I hope it was worth it. Please enjoy!

Two hours have passed after Lab 8 invaded the Tower, Vitale has had enough. His father always pushing him around, telling him what to do, only for that plan to fail miserably. He knew he could be a better leader for the Medicis than Lorenzo has ever been.

“I NEED THAT FUCKING LIFE GEM NOW!!! AND KILL THAT TRAITOROUS LITTLE SHITHEAD WHILE YOU ARE AT IT!!!” Lorenzo yelled in Vitale’s face.

“With all do respect father, Black Dahlia and a majority of the others are wounded. And Beatrix cannot take on all of them.” Vitale replied.

“ _sigh_...Dammit, I guess I have to call her in.”

“I’ll do it.” Vitale said, walking over to the phone. He pressed a few buttons and someone picked up.

“Hello, this is The Bastet’s Den, the finest den in town! How can I help you?”

“This is Vitale.”

“Oh! Mr. Vitale, I heard what happened over there. Are you alright?”

“I’m splendid. Tell Eliza to come here ASAP. I have something for her.”

“Alright. I’ll tell her.”

Then the receptionist hung up.

“Well, what are we supposed to do with Dahlia?!?” Lorenzo said

Vitale was about to pull out his gun and shoot him in the head.

“Perhaps I can be of an assistance?”

They turned to see a black fog with pink electricity flowing around it. Sharp pink eyes appeared from the fog.

“What the hell are you?!?!” Lorenzo asked

“Who. And the name’s Brain Drain. I’ve heard about the situation that happened 2 hours ago.”

“What do you want?” Vitale asked

“One of your enforcers, Black Dahlia. I’ll take her to my lab and bring her back repaired and better than ever.”

“And why do you want to help?”

“To get my experiment back and to destroy the Skullgirl.”

“Okay well, what are you waiting for?!? Take her and fix her!!!”

Brain Drain disappeared out of the room, leaving Vitale and Lorenzo alone again. Vitale finally decided to put his plan into motion.

“I think you’ve had control for far too long now, father.”

“What the hell are you talking abo-“ Lorenzo said before Vitale took out a pistol and shot him in the head, blood splattering all over the window behind.

Vitale simply pushed his father’s corpse off the chair, wiped off some brain pieces off the chair, and sat down.

“I think it’s time things start running _my_ way.”

* * *

**_One week later…_ **

Cerebella and Feng went into Yu-Wan’s restaurant to meet up with their Innsmouth counterparts. Once they went in, the place was packed. But Minette instantly saw the two of them enter. She gave the customers their orders and ran over to the two.

“Feng, over here!”

Feng saw her and ran towards her as well and the two hugged each other. They haven’t seen each other for a whole week.

“How’s it been?” Feng asked.

“Everything’s been going great! Leg still hurts a little bit but everything’s fine. You?”

Feng just pulled up her sleeve to show that the slash is now a scar with just a tiny bit of blood still showing.

“It still hurts like hell, but thanks to you and the others, at least I’m not dead.”

“Hey Minette, do you know where Nadia is?” Cerebella asked

“Um, I think she’s in the far right of-“

“Heads up!”

Cerebella looked up to see Ms. Fortune’s head flying towards her. She jumped up and caught her head, careful of not poking her eyes.

“Giver her a round of a-paws!!” Ms. Fortune said, her body walking over, clapping. “Tell me, how do you feel about this?”

“I’m feline grrrrreat!!” Cerebella replied

Ms. Fortune and Cerebella laughed at their shitty cat puns. Ms. Fortune grabbed her head and attached it back to her body.

“Hey, I forgot to ask, where do you and Feng live now?” Ms. Fortune asked

“Lab 8 was nice enough to supply us with a room, the last room they had in fact.”

“Well, that’s nice of them. I also see you pulled your hair down.”

“Oh, yeah, I pulled it down two days ago. Do you like it?” Cerebella asked, getting more nervous towards the end.

“I think it suits you better.”

“Really?” Cerebella asked with a bit of excitement.

“Yeah. You wanna go and continue to talk in a booth I reserved?” Ms. Fortune asked as she pointed to a booth with her tail on it.

Cerebella chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I’m down for that.”

As the two walked over to the booth, Minette and Feng were finishing up their conversation.

“Sorry to cut our reunion short, but…” Minette said

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll still be here.” Feng said.

Minette smiled as she went into the kitchen. Then a few people followed her in. She then noticed a big weird contraption.

“What is this?”

“Something you don’t want to touch.” a Medici goon said behind her.

“Like at all.” Lawrence said.

Ricarrdo swallowed down Lawrence’s stupidity for once and continued.

“Unless you want to blow this place sky high way before its schedule.”

The Medici goons were slowly walking towards her. As she panicked, she grabbed her swordfish and started whacking the goons. She could’ve stabbed and killed them, but she wasn’t a very violent person. But it seemed to work. Until Riccardo pulled out his gun. Then Minette froze.

“Say nighty-night, fish brains.”

“Nighty-Night!” Feng exclaimed as she bashed a metal rod into his head, making him fall over.

“Are you okay?” Feng asked.

“Yeah…”

Then there was a BANG at the freezer door.

“Help!” Yu-Wan exclaimed.

“Yu-Wan!” Minette yelled as she ran to the door, trying to open it.

“Listen, there’s someone else here with me, but I think I lost her…”

“Who is it?” Feng asked.

“She is-“

Then a staff with sharp fins and a microphone came through the door with Yu-Wan’s blood covering it. He attempted to breathe.

“YU-WAN!!!”

He gargled and blood came out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry…” The staff came back through the door and he fell to the ground. Then an Egyptian like chick with the weapon came into view.

“Hello, girls.” She said in a sexual manner.

“Eliza?” Feng asked.

Minette was so scared to say anything. She saw her own boss and friend die right in front of her.

“Oh, you know me? I’m so flattered. Almost to the point where I could let you go. Almost.”

She then disappeared from their view. They looked closer to see where she went. The a cat-like skeleton jumped out at them. They screamed and started to run. But then they noticed something about the device. They had 10 seconds to get out of there before the bomb went off. And the Medici goons were gone. They quickly ran out of the kitchen and yelled,

“EVERYONE GET OUT THERE’S A BOMB!!!!”

And everyone screamed as they pushed each other trying to get out of the restaurant.

Once everyone was out, Ms. Fortune remembered.

“Yu-Wan!!”

She ran towards the restaurant.

“Nadia, wait! He’s-“

Before Feng could finish her sentence, **BOOM!**

The restaurant exploded and Ms. Fortune flew in front of the crowd.

“YU-WAN!!”

“H-he died before the explosion. He was murdered by the Medicis.” Feng said

Ms. Fortune lost it. She fell down to the ground, crying.

“Not you too!” She cried.

Cerebella kneeled down, hugging her, apologizing.

Seeing Ms. Fortune cry didn’t sit well with Minette. She quickly hugged Feng and broke down as well. She cried so much, she couldn’t see the Medicis in the distance, watching them.

* * *

Darkness. That’s all Minette saw right now. And that was all she wanted to see. Feng and Cerebella were right next to her while Ms. Fortune was lying down in the couch.

“I’m so sorry.” Squigly said.

“I’m sorry too. I knew the Medicis were cruel and cold hearted, but this…I’m ashamed that I even have their namesake.” Filia said

“Agreed. They are nothing but trouble. I say we should stay low from them.” Leviathan added.

“Nah, I say that we go in their paradise again and make it a bloody paradise!” Samson said.

“The snake’s right. I just want nothing to do with them anymore.” Hive said, drinking her coffee.

Minette said something, but since her head was down, it was all mumbles.

“Um, can you repeat that?” Feng asked.

Then Minette raised her head and yelled,

“YU-WAN IS DEAD BECAUSE OF ME!! I’M JUST A WEAK IDIOT WHO CAN’T EVEN SAVE ANYONE!”

She then continued to cry. This startled everyone at the table, even Ms. Fortune raised her ears.

“Hey, none of this is your fault. It’s all the Medici’s fault.” Feng said

“Yeah, honestly the Medicis are nothing but cold-hearted, murdering, motherfuckers. They will do anything and everything to make anyone suffer, no matter if they have nothing to do with them or not.” Hive added.

Filia’s eyes then widened and she held her head.

“Are you alright?” Squigly asked.

“Y-Yeah..I’m fine.” Filia said, although her eyes were slightly watery.

“Your eyes are wet. Something’s up. Is it because we’re talking about your “family”?” Hive said

“No. I just remembered something from my past. How my family treated me.”

“How did they treat you?” Squigly asked

“Everytime my family robbed somewhere and came home, they placed a knife on my throat, threatening me that if I said anything about it, even hinting it, they would ‘take out the trash’. And they robbed from people 5 times a week. And once a week we would go to the Casino and spend the time there. Before my parents went to go play poker, they would force me to drink alcohol to ‘keep up appearances’. One time, When I was drunk, some guy, Riccardo I think, came over and try to sexually assault me. My parents were okay with that. But I remember someone helping me out of it. But I don’t remember who. Another thing is that I kept eating out of stress. I kept stressing over my parents and if they were going to kill me one day. But I might’ve ate a bit too much because then I couldn’t stop. Then one day after I had an argument with Carol, me and my family were going to go to the Casino once again. But they saw a place to steal from and made a quick steal. They came with Samson in a metal jar along with other things. Once we started driving away, I had enough of it and I screamed for help. My father, who was driving, started choking me, slamming me into the windows of the car, and seats. He got out his knife and stabbed me in my stomach. Before he could really kill me, a big truck ran us over killing my parents and almost killing me. If it wasn’t for Samson…” Filia then broke down.

Everyone was in shock. Hive was super silent.

“Oh my god, Filia...I’m so sorry.” Squigly said, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Cerebella was going to say something, but Ms. Fortune had enough of this. She got up from the couch and went outside.

“Wait, Nadia where are you going?” Cerebella yelled as she ran after her.

“I’m going to go kill them. Every single one of them.” she replied.

“You can’t!”

“Oh, why not? Everyday they do this shit and get away with it. They kill innocents, mistreat their own family, and for those they don’t kill, they change. And here you are, telling me I shouldn’t do anything about it? You think that ‘Oh ThEy PiCkEd Me Up AnD sAvEd Me!!’ they should be free? Give me a fucking break!”

“No I’m saying this is because if you start killing them, you will be like them!”

“Don’t you dare compare me to them ever again, clown!” Ms. Fortune growled.

Cerebella froze.

“That’s what I thought.” She then ran away.

Tears quickly went down Cerebella’s cheeks. She wiped them off and went back inside. As Cerebella went inside her room, Carol finally came out of her room.

“Morning Carol.” Filia said with a bit of sadness still in her voice.

“Heya…I just came here to say something I should’ve said a year ago. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Filia asked.

“For the argument we had. I really wanted to know why you were sad that particular day and you didn’t say anything about it. I got mad because I thought you trusted me and…now I heard everything. And I feel bad for the way I acted. I’m sorry…”

“I forgive you. I’m sorry for not saying anything.”

“I forgive you too.”

There was a long silence between the crew until Filia thought of something.

“Hey does anyone want to go to the mall? I can’t guarantee you’ll have a good time there, but it may help some of you.”

“Yeah, I guess I can go.” Minette said, starting to feel slightly better.

“If you’re going, I’m going too.” Feng said

“Sure, I don’t have have anything planned today anyway.” Hive said.

“Are you okay with that, Filia?” Squigly asked.

“Yeah...I guess I can have a bit of fun.”

“Great, I’ll go ask Leduc if he wants to. And Peacock and Marie too.”

* * *

Ms. Fortune found her way into the Casino again. Nobody was in the lobby.

‘They must be hanging out somewhere around here.’

She immediately went for Lorenzo’s office. Once she was there, she kicked down the door. She saw Vitale, looking out the window.

“Well, it’s about time you came here, Nadia.”

“How do you-“

“-know who you are? In people’s last moments of life, they can reveal a whole lot of information. And that killer may be a little...gossip-y to say the least.”

Ms. Fortune shook with anger. She charged towards Vitale before Black Dahlia came out of nowhere and whacked her midair.

“You? But how did you-“

“A little help from a cyborg that’s really interested in meeting you. And I’ll make that happen by giving him your unconscious body.” Black Dahlia said. She sounded more menacing and her robotic parts were more sleek and powerful. “He repaired me faster and better than the place those fuckers call ‘home’.”

Ms. Fortune pounced back into action. Black Dahlia swung her arm gun at her, but Ms. Fortune put her hands on it, and bounced off it. She then extended her arms, latched onto Dahlia, and kicked her in the face. She jumped back to deliver a punch, but Dahlia ducked then punched her stomach, then, with the arm gun, uppercutted Ms. Fortune, then with a small energy blast, shot her and she went flying, crashing through the wall. Ms. Fortune wiped the blood coming from her mouth and got back up.

“Thanks to him, I’m stronger…”

Ms. Fortune tried to punch her again, but Black Dahlia caught it and kicked her knee, getting her down.

“…faster…”

She pulled on her arm, causing Ms. Fortune’s face to be hit by Dahlia’s metal knee.

“…better.”

She then picked her up and through her against the wall again. Ms. Fortune was too weak to get up. Black Dahlia rushed to her and got on top of her. She then proceeded to punch her over and over and over again as Ms. Fortune’s blood kept splattering against her mask. Once she was done, she got up and Ms. Fortune’s face was nothing more than a bloody mess. She picked her up and charged through the wall, this time in the balcony over the lobby. She threw her and she almost fell off the balcony.

“It’ll...take a lot more...to kill me…” Ms. Fortune said.

“Oh I don’t want to kill you.” Black Dahlia replied.

Then, with a real bullet, she shot Ms. Fortune through her stomach. As Ms. Fortune cried in pain, Black Dahlia charged at her again. They both went off the balcony and Black Dahlia held Ms. Fortune down. When they landed, rubble went all over the place. When the smoke cleared, Black Dahlia was over the bloody Ms. Fortune.

“If you’re not...trying to kill me….what is your plan then…” Ms. Fortune said in between breaths.

“Well, I would tell you if I was bumbling moron. But I guess I can tell you how it’ll end. You and your friends will all die in the same room, the same way we killed your own family.”

Ms. Fortune tried to get up in rage, but with all of Black Dahlia’s strength, she smashed down on her chest, breaking a few of Ms. Fortune’s ribs as blood got spat out from her mouth. Black Dahlia slowly got up, breathing heavily, looking at Ms. Fortune’s unconscious, bloody body.

“Excellent job, Dahlia. You might just get a raise.” Vitale said from the balcony

“Hmph, I don’t care about it. As long as I get to beat the everlasting shit out of someone, I’ll be slightly happy.”

Vitale went back to his office and called Brain Drain.

“Hello, Brain Drain, it’s Vitale. I have Nadia Fortune.”

“Excellent, I’ll be right there to claim her.”

And with that, Vitale hung up. And smiled to himself.

“See now father? That’s how a real man runs things.”

* * *

Filia, Squigly, Carol, Leduc, Cerebella, Feng, Minette, and Hive all went to the mall. Peacock and Marie stayed back with Tommy-Ten Tons, Andy Anvil, Lonesome Lenny, George, Avery, Ileum, Big Band, and the kids.

Everyone was silent at first with Squigly and Carol trying their best to change that. It didn’t work very well.

Then they saw a theater and they were playing ‘Grease’.

“Hey, why don’t we see a movie?”

The others were okay with that. They went in, ordered their popcorn, candy, and drinks, and took a seat. Then the movie started. The Lab 8 Crews emotions changed.

Filia and Squigly cuddled during the movie, much to Samson and Leviathan’s dismay. Feng and Minette were surprised at the film. They even looked at each other a few times during the movie. Leduc and Carol also did the same, but not at the same time. Hive didn’t know how to feel. She secretly liked the film, but romance… it wasn’t her cup of tea. Not anymore.

“That was a really great movie!” Filia said as they walked out of the theater.

“I agree.” Squigly said.

“I thought it was cute.” Carol said

“It was good.” Feng said.

“I agree. What did you think about it sis?” Leduc asked Hive.

“Huh? Oh it was alright…” she replied, sounding off.

“Are you okay?”

“I said I’m fine.” she said.

She then bumped into someone.

“Hey! Watch it!” the young teen said as he turned around.

He took a look at Hive and was surprised. Hive went white.

“Well, well, well, long time no see, huh Hannah?”

Hive’s heart started beating faster. Out of blind rage, she made a Blaster with rockets and pointed it at his head.

“Oooh. That looks cool.”

“Shut the hell up, Landon. Now, you have to options here: A) Die or B) Be wounded.” Hive said.

“Alright then. Kill me. I don’t care.”

Hive’s body shook a bit. She then turned off her Blaster.

“That’s right…” Landon said as he grabbed her

“Get your hand off of her!” Leduc said.

Landon did just that. And took out a phone.

“Hey, I found them…”

“Oh no, everyone run!” Leduc said.

And everyone ran away, Hive taking a little bit to follow.

“Why are we running from him?! We can take him on!” Cerebella said.

“He’s a Medici. And that means he could’ve called an army of them on us.”

Not too long after, four people were in front of them. Black Dahlia, Eliza, and her two bodyguards, Horace and Albus.

“I-it’s you…” Minette said.

“You remembered me? Tell me, was it the makeup that made me noticeable?” Eliza said, flipping her hair.

“Nah, I think it was due to you murdering their friend.” Albus said

“Shut up, Albus!” Horace said

“Hey, you’re just mad you didn’t get to say that first!”

“Boys!” Eliza yelled. The two stood straight silent.

“Hey, can you three get your act together so we can get this over with?!?!” Black Dahlia exclaimed.

“Boys, you heard her. Let’s teach these people some manners.” Eliza said

Eliza’s skin then started to crack a bit.

“Let’s get started shall we?” Her voice said as her voice got deeper and familiar to Samson and Leviathan.

“Wait….SEKHMET?!?” both Samson and Leviathan exclaimed

“Who?” both Filia and Squigly asked.

Then a cat skeleton jumped out from her skin, which melted to the ground.

“ME!”

“Minette, Feng get out of here!” Cerebella yelled.

The two ran away from the situation until they were in a safe position.

“Samson, join me. Leave your pathetic host and I’ll get you the host of your dreams. And we will rule this town, along with the rest of the Medicis!”

“Nobody threatens my host except me! And you are the most distrustful bitch I have ever known!”

“Suit yourself.” She said as she leaped towards her.

As Eliza and her bodyguards fought Filia, Squigly, Carol, And Leduc, Black Dahlia was fighting Hive and Cerebella.

Hive shot missiles at Black Dahlia, which shot the missiles mid air. Black Dahlia then shot a big explosion round at a ‘Cirques de Carte’ billboard. A woman and her kid was under it, screaming for their lives. But it didn’t land. When the woman opened her eyes, Cerebella and Vice Verse was holding the billboard (and had their faces on it).

“Hey, how’re you doing?” Cerebella said as she winked at the woman and kid.

The kid was so surprised, his eyes glittered.

“Wow...your tits are humongous!”

Cerebella just froze. Vice Versa just dropped the billboard in shock.

“Danny! Sorry for that, he’s like that sometimes. Anyways here take my money..” the woman said.

“Oh no, miss you don’t have to.”

But she still gave her the money and ran off with Danny, who was still staring at her.

Then Black Dahlia shot at her a few times.

Vice Versa just smashed the ground and picked up a giant piece of concrete. Hive was then flying behind Black Dahlia, going for a stealth attack. When Vice threw the giant piece of rubble, Black Dahlia stepped out of the way and Hive shot the rubble so it wouldn’t hit her. But Dahlia grabbed her neck and started choking her.

“Let her go!” Cerebella exclaimed.

“Certainly.”

She then threw Hive at her at full speed. Then shot a few bombs at them. Vice caught Hive but both of them noticed the bombs.

Cerebella started to run away but the bombs exploded, sending them flying into a store front. All of the store items fell on top of them. Black Dahlia shot out a few more bombs at the store. Every customer there ran off, screaming and crying for their lives. When the explosions went off, the three of them crashed through the brick wall and more items fell on top of them.

Leduc electrocuted Eliza and Carol shot some spikes towards her. But Eliza dodged the spikes and one of those spikes struck Leduc in the shoulder.

“Sorry!” Carol yelled.

Squigly and Leviathan shot out two purple giant fireballs, while Samson turned into a gigantic monster and tied Filia on his back. Samson slapped Black Dahlia through a restaurant. The fireballs were going to hit Eliza, but she used her Staff of Ra and hit them towards Samson. Samson growled in pain. Leduc then electrocuted Eliza again. But she simply scratched him hard on the chest and licked the blood on her hands. With rage, Carol spun her Buer Drive as fast as she could and spun towards Eliza. But she crouched, grabbed her leg, and slammed her into the ground. Eliza threw both of them up in the air and Black Dahlia shot both of them with one explosive shot.

Samson got up and tried to claw them again, but Dahlia came prepared. She super charged her explosive shot and shot it at Samson. He went flying towards some buildings and he turned so Filia wouldn’t get hurt. He fell to the ground and with the last of his strength, he pushed Filia out of the way of some falling debris before going unconscious.

“Samson, are you okay? Samson? Samson!!” Filia yelled.

“Aww, he’s just as weak as you.” Eliza said

“She’s not weak!” Squigly said as she uppercut Eliza. Then Leviathan latched his tail onto her, and pulled her in. Squigly’s fist was surrounded with a purple flame and she punched Eliza towards Black Dahlia. But that was a hologram.

“Wh-“ Filia said before both her and Squigly got electrocuted.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder you two are together. Both of you are vulnerable. Weak without your parasites.”

She then electrocuted both of them again, the voltage increasing. As they were both getting electrocuted, they reached out for each other. But Filia was reaching with her left hand, which was still broken. Black Dahlia stomped on it hard. Filia yelled in pain.

Squigly tried to get up, but Eliza whacked her in the face with her Staff of Ra. She started beating the two with it while also kicking and stomping them. Black Dahlia electrocuted them while also beating them up.

“Oh my god, what are we supposed to do?!?” Minette yelled.

“Calm down. And we can’t do anything except go back to the Lab and tell the others.” Feng said.

Minette was still scared, but she agreed.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Go where?” Horace asked behind them

“Yeah, a party? I’ll bring our lady to it.” Albus said

“You? Don’t you mean ‘we’?” Horace asked

“Shut up, dumbass!”

“I’m the dumbass? You’re the one who even said the thing in the first place!”

“But you replied to it instead of movin’ on!”

The two of them fought and Feng and Minette ran away and ran back to the Lab to warn the others of the predicament.

* * *

Cerebella slowly opened her eyes. And once her eyes were wide open, she realized she was on the floor. She looked around the room. Next to her, Squigly was on the ground, still unconscious. Carol and Leduc were also on the ground unconscious. Across the room, Ms. Fortune was attempting to get up, but fell back down. And there was a shark dude with a lab coat that was tied up to a pole in one of the corners of the room. Hive and Filia weren’t in there though.

Cerebella looked back at Ms. Fortune getting back up with a rusty tube. She got up to help.

‘Don’t you dare compare me to them ever again, clown!’

Cerebella then remembered those words and she just sat back down, still watching her.

But she looked like she was run over by 10 semi-trucks. There was at least one bruise on every limb. She had a black eye and her hair was extremely messy. Scratches were seen and there was a bullet hole on her stomach.

‘She’ll be fine…’ Cerebella thought to herself.

Then Ms. Fortune fell down, yelling in pain as she held her chest.

‘She’s just over exaggerating…’ Cerebella said, her eyes watering a slight bit.

Ms. Fortune tried to get up again. But the pole she was using to get up broke and she fell down on the ground, pole hitting her chest. Ms. Fortune then started to cry a bit.

“Nadia!”

Cerebella then got up and ran to her side, ignoring the pain on her hip.

“Nadia, are you okay?”

Ms. Fortune then looked away, trying to hide her tears.

“Yeah, I’m great.”

“No you’re not. What happened to you?”

“Black Dahlia. I got my ass handed to me. And on top of that, she broke a few ribs. With the Life Gem, it’ll heal up faster than normal. But it’ll be broken for a while.”

As Cerebella helped her up, Ms. Fortune continued talking.

“I’m sorry I said that stuff earlier. You were trying to help and I just treated you like utter shit.”

“I forgive you. I’m just glad you’re okay now.”

Carol and Leduc both woke up.

Carol saw her surroundings and breathed heavily, trying to cover her eyes.

“Carol, what’s wrong?” Leduc asked

“We’re...in Lab 0… I remember this place. Here they kept me in here until it was time to turn me into this…” Carol said, her Painwheel voice slowly coming back.

“Well, they didn’t throw us in here to experiment on you again. But just know if they ever lay a finger on you, I will protect you.”

“Thank you…” Carol said, slowly calming down again.

“Hey can you help me here?”

Carol and Leduc turned around and saw Stanley in the corner tied up.

“Stanley!” Leduc said as he dashed towards him

“Leduc…” Stanley said very weakly.

“Are you okay? What have they done to you?”

“They just tied me here, only giving me only water and fish. Beating me up if they wanted to beat something up. It was utter hell.”

“We’ll get you out of this.” Leduc said.

A spike popped out of Carol’s hand and she slashed at the chain. The chains fell to the ground, making Stanley free.

“Thank you. It’s been so long since I’ve felt anything other than chains.”

“You’re welcome.” Carol said.

Squigly finally woke up and the first thing she noticed was that Filia was nowhere in sight.

“Filia?” She asked.

* * *

In the room across from them, Hive slowly woke up. She got up, holding her head.

‘Where am I?’ She thought to herself.

She noticed that there was a collar strap on her neck with some tech on it. She tried to take it off but couldn’t.

“How’s my favorite Beezle Bomb host?”

Hive turned around to see Brain Drain.

“...you.” she said.

“I’m still waiting for that answer.”

Hive just crossed her arms.

“I’m not telling you shit.”

Brain Drain chuckled.

“Same old Hannah. So how’s it been back at the Lab?”

Hive still didn’t answer him.

“Hm. So you’re going to be like that. I see. Well, I guess you don’t want to know how Stanley’s doing. Oh well, I guess I can-“

He then got tackled to the ground.

“Tell me where he is!! Or so help me, I’m going to fucking kill you!!” Hive yelled.

Brain Drain’s Eyes then went red.

Hive yelled in pain. She instinctively held her neck.

‘The Strap…’

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should _reeaally_ control your temper.”

Hive got up and tried to make her Blasters, but nothing happened.

‘It’s interfering with my parasite too…’

She didn’t let that stop her, as she rushed to punch him. But the strap went off, electrocuting her again.

“Seriously, why are you even trying?”

She got up to hit him one last time, but this time Brain Drain caught the punch. He punched her in the face with her own fist. Then pulled down on her arm and hit her with an uppercut. She crashed into the monitor in the room. He flew towards her, grabbing her neck and throwing her to the ceiling. When she came falling down, he electrocuted his hands and scratched her in the hip. He kept punching her over and over again. When she got slammed into a wall, she fell on her knees.

“Black Dahlia was right. You can’t even protect yourself.” Brain Drain said as grabbed Hive’s face and slammed it into the wall behind her.

He let go, Hive dropping to the ground, almost losing her conscious.

* * *

“Hannah, are you okay?” Stanley asked.

Hannah threw her jet pack on the floor and walked away, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’ll go talk to her.” Big Band said.

“No, no, I’ll do it.” Dr. Avian said.

He walked over to Hannah.

“Hey, that was a very bumpy landing. So we were just making sure that you’re okay. Alright?”

She didn’t reply but she was softening up a bit.

“I know what you and your brother are going through and I know it’s tough.”

“Have you ever seen your parents die right in front of you? Have you almost been beaten up to death by someone you considered your boyfriend before?”

“No...for the second half. My parents were murdered in front of me by the Medicis. They invaded my house and I was hiding in my closet. But look. I’m not training you so we could get back at them. I’m training you to control your emotions better. I’m training you so you can know what you are capable of. But it’s all up to you on how you use those emotions. Also before my parents were murdered, they told me something that I’ll never forget: “Never give up.” Now I know that sounds plain and really cliche. And it is. But it means so much things. Whether if you’re full and you’re forced to eat one last bite or if a building falls onto you and you survive, you need the courage to never give up. You got me?”

Hive smiled.

“Yeah...I think I do.”

“So you want to give that jet pack test another go?”

“Let’s do this.” Hive said as her face gear activated and covered her face.

* * *

‘Never Give Up…’ Dr. Avian’s voice echoed through Hive’s thoughts. Hive slowly attempted to get up. Brain Drain just stood there, waiting to deliver the final blow. Once Hive was fully up, he started electrocuting her with the strap again. Hive held the strap and with all her strength as well as Dr. Avian’s words repeating through her head, started tearing it off.

“What?” Brain Drain said.

She then broke the strap around her neck.

“NO!!” Brain Drain exclaimed. He shot electricity out of his fingers, but Hive made a shield, absorbing all that electricity.

“My turn.”

She then made big blasters and blasted Brain Drain through her room and into the one across from her.

“Hannah!” Stanley exclaimed.

“STANLEY!” She said as she ran to him and hugged him.

“Nice job taking him out. If only Avian can see you now.”

Peacock and Marie crashed through the roof of the room.

“What’s up, maroons!” Peacock exclaimed

“How did you find us?” Leduc asked.

“Your parasites have tracking devices in them. I bet Ileum told them where to go.” Stanley said

“Wait, was Filia with you?” Squigly asked Hive

“No, she wasn’t.” Hive replied.

Leviathan gasped.

“Sekhmet must’ve gotten her and Samson!”

“It’s about time you figured it out.”

The team turned around to see Eliza with blood surrounding her and Filia, the blood covering her body and mouth. The rest of her head was still showing.

“Filia!”

“And me!!” Samson yelled.

Brain Drain got up and brushed off some of the rubble on his shoulder.

“Ready to get your ass kicked again!?” Hive exclaimed.

“Oh, I'm not the one fighting this time. I'll let someone else fight for me.”

He then stepped aside and revealed a robot. And that robot kind of resembled Nadia in a way.

“What the hell?” Ms. Fortune said.

“Introducing my latest creation, Robo-Fortune.”

“Beep, Boop, Meow.” The robot said.

“I'm mad but flattered. You took all this time, money and resources to make a robo version of me? That's sweet, but I'm gonna have to copyright strike it.” Ms. Fortune said

“Shut the fuck up! Robo Fortune, do your job.”

“What is my job?” Robo Fortune asked.

“You know, your purpose. The reason I built you. The reason you exist.”

“What is my purpose? Why was I built? Why do I exist?”

Brain Drain sighed. “I literally trained and programmed it into-”

“What am I fighting fooooorrr!?!?”

Ms. Fortune was about to say a joke but Cerebella stepped forward.

“Hey, I know you’re purpose!” Cerebella said.

Robo Fortune was already next to her, her metallic tail wagging.

“You do?”

“Yeah. You...are the family cat and me and Nadia over there are your favorites!” Cerebella said.

“No! I am your creator! I made you! They didn’t do anything for you! Now choose me, the person that built you or those buffoons, who didn’t do jackshit!” Brain Drain yelled.

Robo Fortune looked at Cerebella, who was smiling and had her arms extended for a hug. Robo then looked at Brain Drain, who had his arms crossed and his foot tapping

on the ground.

Ms. Fortune then thought of something. She launched and threw her head toward Cerebella, who barely caught her head.

“Oh wow! You sure are a great owner! It would be a missed op-purr-tunity to not be your pet!” She yelled out loud.

Robo Fortune speed over to Cerebella, tackling her and Ms. Fortune’s head to the ground.“{Purring sound effect}” Robo Fortune said.

“Grah! Just…kill them!” Brain Drain yelled.

Eliza and Brain Drain charged at them. Robo Fortune’s hand turned into a giant magnet.

“Nyanyanyanyanya…” Robo Fortune said as Eliza and Brain Drain were being sucked in.

When she finally got them, she jumped up in the air, spinning her arm, and slamming them to the ground. When they bounced up slightly, she quickly detached her tail, which turned into a laser bat of some sorts, and whacked them in mid air. They crashed onto a wall and Robo Fortune turned into a giant laser shooter. She shot at them but Eliza made a blood shield. But since she needed a lot of blood to make a shield that covered both her and Brain Drain, she took back all the blood that was capturing Filia. So when she became free, Samson covered her right fist as Filia swung at Eliza. Eliza slammed into the wall still refusing to give up her shield. Then Hive jumped in, firing her laser. Peacock activated her Argus Agony, which was a laser followed by multiple pellets of the laser. And Leviathan breathed fire as he and Squigly shot fire orbs at them.

All that was enough for Eliza and Brain Drain to go through the entire Lab. They crashed all the way into the lobby.

“I like you.” Ms. Fortune said.

“Archiving praise…” Robo Fortune said.

They decided to go after them but when they arrived at the lobby, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Wh-where did they go?” Stanley asked

“No idea. But they ran. That’s a victory in my book.” Hive said, wiping the blood from her chin.

“Yeah, I can just go back home and just sleep. Which is exactly what I’m gonna do.” Stanley said as he walked out the front.

Everyone followed suite. Peacock noticed that Marie was nowhere in sight.

“Uh, you guys go on. I gotta see something real quick.”

Peacock ran all the way back to the captive room, where Marie was on the floor, squirming and making muffled noises. Peacock ran to her side.

“Marie?! What’s happening!?!”

“T-the Skull Heart. It’s becoming more and more powerful and I can’t do anything.”

“Well, there’s surely _something_ you can do!”

“There’s only one thing...The promise that you made a few weeks ago.”

“No, I-I’ll think of something else!”

“Patricia…” She said before she slumped onto the ground.

“Marie?!?! Marie!!!”

Then Marie woke back up. But Marie’s eyes had skulls on them again. Before Peacock commented on that, Marie started choking Peacock.

“M-Marie…”

“Not for much longer…I will take over this stupid, pitiful body and take control of the world.”

Then Marie started laughing.

“M-Ma-rie…” Peacock said as she was starting to black out.

And Marie’s laughter slowly stopped as she stopped choking Peacock.

“Patricia! Oh my god! Patricia!”

Peacock was too busy coughing and breathing heavily to say anything back.

“I’m so so sorry!” Marie exclaimed.

“It’s...it’s alright.”

“No it’s not alright! I could’ve killed you!”

“But you didn’t.”

“I will, if the Skull Heart takes control of me again, which it will someday!”

“Hey, Hey, Hey.” Peacock said as she embraced Marie in a hug, “it’s going to be okay. Even if I don’t find a way to save you, I will make sure…” Peacock started choking. “...that I do what you wish.”

Marie hugged Peacock back.

“Okay…”

The two just sat there, hugging each other for a while. Never wanting to leave from their hug.

* * *

Back at the Lab, Peacock went back to playing cards with her gang, but was majorly distracted with her thoughts on Marie. Marie sat outside, looking at the moon. Hive was sitting on the couch, just thinking about today. Also sitting on the couch was Cerebella, Ms. Fortune, Minette, and Feng playing with Robo Fortune. Leduc was talking with Big Band and Ileum, still trying to convince them that they’re fine. Stanley was sleeping in his office like he said he would. Filia, Squigly, and Carol were in the kitchen, eating pizza and talking to each other.

“Hey guys. Do you think I have a shot?” Carol asked.

“A shot at what?” Filia asked.

“A shot at being normal ever again?” Samson asked.

“Samson!”

“Actually, yeah…that’s what I was gonna ask along with another question.”

“Yeah, you can be normal if you put everything into it. It won’t be easy but it’ll all pay off.” Squigly replied.

“Yeah I agree. Also what was the other question?”

“Do you think I have a shot with…” she nodded her head towards Leduc’s direction.

“Yeah. I think he has a crush on you too.” Filia said

“Really?” Carol asked

“Yeah. Sometimes when you pass on by he keeps looking at you. Remember back at the theater he insisted on holding the door for you?” Filia said.

Carol started blushing. “Well, what do I do?”

“Why don’t you ask him out on a date. But don’t call it that in front of him. Say it’s a breakfast meeting, a lunch meeting, a brunch meeting, it’s all up to you.”

“Yeah…I’ll go do that. Thanks guys!” Carol said as she went up to Leduc, who was finishing up his conversation with Big Band and Ileum.

“Hey, Leduc…”

“Oh, hey. What’s up?”

“I was wondering...maybe we could go somewhere for breakfast later tomorrow? Have a quick bite, maybe do something else?”

Leduc kinda blushed at that and he thanked Avain for his collar covering his cheeks.

“That’d be great. So 9 o’clock sound nice?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect…”

“Cool. Well, I’m going to bed now. See you.” He said as he walked to his room.

“Good night.” Carol whispered to herself. She looked back at the kitchen and Filia and Squigly cheered her on.

“I’m kind of freaking out right now!” Carol said, really excited.

“Well, at least you did it!” Filia said.

She noticed Hive looking a bit down. More down than earlier.

“Hey, I’m gonna go talk to Hive now, if that’s okay.”

“No problem.” “Carry on.” Squigly and Carol said at the same time. The two kept talking to each other as Filia walked to Hive’s side.

“Hey, are you alright?” Filia asked

Hive seemed to be in a kind of trans because when Filia asked her that, she looked like she snapped out of something.

“Huh? Oh yeah, everything’s cool.” Hive replied.

“Are you sure? You seemed kind of…saddened.”

Hive just sighed.

“Just...come with me to my room.”

“Oh, okay.”

When Filia entered her room, she quickly noticed the walls were painted black with yellow shapes, such as circles, stars, and lines. Hive sat on her bed.

“Want me to start from the beginning?” Hive asked.

“Yeah.” Filia replied.

Hive patted a spot on her bed, signaling for Filia to sit there. Filia sat on the spot as Hive took a deep breath in.

“I lied to that cat lady out there. I told her what happened to me. But I left some stuff out. Truth is…my mom and dad were friends of the Medicis. And I didn’t think much of it. Until I met Landon, the guy you met at the mall. I started to have feelings for him and eventually we started dating. And since me and my family were with the Medici, I went to their poker nights.”

Filia’s eyes widened. She remembered the memory of when Riccardo was going to sexually assault her.

* * *

“Hey, school girl. Why don’t you give me some sugar?” Riccardo said, smooching his lips.

“No! Leave me alone!” Filia yelled as she started struggling.

“Ah ha, a little fight in you. I like that.”

“Hey, why don’t you leave her alone.”

“Huh?” Riccardo And Filia turned to see a young teen. She had lavender hair, turquoise eyeliner, and light blue eyes.

“Who are you to tell me what to d-“

The teen then kicked him in the crouch. He instantly let go of Filia and fell down on his knees, whimpering. She then punched him in the face, Riccardo now falling to the ground.

“ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!!” Filia exclaimed hugging her.

“Hey, it’s no prob. He’s a real creep anyways.”

The teen held out her hand. “Name’s Hannah May. I also go by Hive.”

“Filia Medici. Thanks again.”

“Anytime, now why don’t we go do something fun?”

“T-that sounds great!”

As they walked away, Filia had a question to ask.

“Why do people call you ‘Hive’?”

“Well, I like bees and wasps. I’m also fierce like them. That’s what my brother, Dallas says at least.”

“Well I agree with him.”

Then they went to the arcade and met Dallas there. He was a teen as well though slightly taller than Hannah. He had blond hair and he also had light blue eyes.

“Hey bro.” Hannah said to Dallas.

“Hey sis. Who do we have here?” He asked

“Dallas, meet Filia. Filia, meet Dallas.”

Filia just took his hand without his consent and started shaking it hard.

“Very pleased to meet you!”

“Y-Yeah...pleased to meet you too.” Dallas said, surprised at the girl’s energy.

They then played the arcade games until they had to leave. It was one of the few times Filia had fun before the crash.

* * *

“Hello?” Hive asked

She snapped her fingers in front of Filia’s face.

“Earth to Filia?”

Filia snapped out of it and hugged Hive tightly.

“Hmph. You finally figured it out.” she said as she returned the hug.

“Thank you for everything back then.”

“Hey, it’s no prob.” Hive said, calling back to the first words she ever said to Filia.

“Hey, what happened with Landon and all that?” Filia asked.

Hive and Filia broke their hug so Hive could tell the rest of her story.

“So one day, my parents needed to borrow some money from the Medicis. And they gave them that. But, they had to pay it back by the end of the month. Two months have passed and they haven’t paid it off yet. So when me, Leduc, aka you know is Dallas, and my mom and dad, walked out of the theater, some Medici goons jumped us. They threw me and Dallas onto the wall as they beat on my mom and dad. I tried to intervene by jumping on on the the attackers, but they just threw me down on some glass to my forehead.” She pointed at the three ovals on her forehead. “Then Landon appeared and I asked for his help. But he just spat on my face, saying he only dated me because he’s forced to date new girls so that they can get comfortable being a “Medici”. And he beat on me with anything he could find in that alley; broken glass, trash cans, pipes, all that. They did the same to Leduc but much, much worse. And before they finished me, they shot my parents down with guns. Then they just threw me and my brothers contorted, bloody bodies on the pavement. Every person who was walking in the pavement didn’t bother to ask if we were okay or call the ambulance. Because they knew the Medicis did this. And they were too afraid to get involved.”

Filia looked down. Even Samson was too shocked to say anything snarky about it.

“I-I’m so sorry you went through all that.”

Filia looked up and saw Hive’s eyes watering.

“And I’ve just held it in for an entire year.”

“Hannah, it’s okay to let all of your emotions out. It’s not good for people to keep these emotions to themselves forever.

And with that, Hive burst into tears. She continued to cry while saying something but it just came out as mumbles.

“Shh. Shh. You don’t need to say anything.” Filia said as she embraced Hive in another hug. After a while, Hive’s tears started to slow down a bit.

“Thank you…” Hive said.

“Anytime Hive.”

“Can you please call me Hannah?” Hive asked

“Can do.”

Not to long after that, Hive fell asleep. Filia smiled as she left her room and carefully shut her door. When she stepped out, she saw Cerebella and Ms. Fortune cuddling together on the couch with Robo Fortune shut down on the ground. Minette and Feng went to the room Lab 8 gave Cerebella and Feng and fell asleep there. Filia went back to her room. When she slightly opened the door, Squigly was already in bed, sleeping. Filia smiled to herself. She carefully and quietly got into the bed.

“Good night, Squigly.” Filia said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Squigly smiled. “Good night.”


	7. One Big Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Skullgirls are attempting to live their lives again, they stopped a small robbery, thus making the public think they are a team of heroes. This makes the Medicis plans go from bad to worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a heads up, later on, I will go back and fix some of the errors I made on other chapters as well as polish up some things I am not too fond of. Also this chapter may be the only chapter using the E rating. Only time will tell if I’ll use it for future chapters.

For the past 2 months, things have been silent in New Meridian. It was so silent that casuals were always walking around with a face of fear that something big was going to happen.

For the Lab 8 Crew, they used this silence as an opportunity and settled down more. 

Oddly enough, the Skull Heart hasn’t been doing much against Marie. The only thing it would say from time to time was ‘You’ll see…’. Peacock told her to brush it off, which she did. Filia and Carol were planning to go back to Maplecrest High. As for Filia and Squigly’s relationship, they kept getting closer and closer, becoming more affectionate with each other. Samson and Leviathan still had their fights every now and then, but for their owners’ sakes, they tried to get along. Carol and Leduc started dating last month and were still new to this kinds of stuff. Hannah became more supportive and social with everyone in the Lab. Ileum has decided to let them go out after 8, but only because Big Band spoke her into doing so. Stanley has been getting healthier and is actually starting to like Marie’s company. Ms. Fortune has been feeling something for Cerebella, but is “ _ slightly” _ nervous about telling her. Robo-Fortune has been like a pet to the kids and a pal for the rest. Minette now works as a waitress at the burger joint Lab 8 usually goes to. And Feng has been searching for other circuses she can be a part of. 

Even though everyone was moving on with their lives, they still can’t shake the feeling the Medicis were planning something big. There wasn’t any petty crimes or ‘the entire city is in danger from them’ crime from them at all. The Casino was completely vacant and was planned to be used as a homeless shelter. 

But that was in the back of their heads now. Filia and Carol came back from their night out. As they opened the door to the Lab, everyone jumped out from their hiding spots and the kids threw confetti all over the place.

“Woah, what’s this all about?” Carol asked.

“Well, the school mailed us.” Ileum said as she grabbed the envelope from her pockets and gave it to them.

Filia and Carol quickly read through the mail. Their eyes widened. They looked at each other, then back at their friends.

“WE’RE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!!!” They both yelled as they ran towards their friends for a big hug.

“Congrats on going back there, mooks. I’m just lucky I never had to go to school.” Peacock said.

“Well, Peacock, we can always change that any moment. I bet you’ll fit right in with the kindergarteners. Wouldn’t that be fun!” Ileum exclaimed as her blue eyes disappeared.

“N-no thanks! I’m good.” Peacock said awkwardly.

She loved Ileum. She saw her as a mother and all, but that doesn’t excuse the fact she finds her to be scary at times.

Avery started laughing in her hat.

“Why you…”

Then Marie started to giggle a bit.

“Marie, you too?”

Then, everyone that was holding in their snickers and giggles let loose. Peacock’s cheeks were red out of embarrassment.

“S-Shuddup!” Peacock said crossing her arms and looking away.

“But in all seriousness, I’m happy for you two.” Hannah said.

“Thanks!” Filia said.

“Anyways, when do you two start?”

They looked back at the paper and saw the date: October 20th.

“October 20th.” Filia said.

“So we got 4 days to get ready.” Carol said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you out if you need it.” Squigly said.

“Thanks, Sienna…” Filia said, blushing and grinning ear to ear.

Then it was pure silence. The Lab 8 crew felt awkward, but it wasn’t the same for Filia and Squigly. They both got lost staring at each other’s eyes and a blush could be seen on both of their cheeks.

“Alright, stop making googly eyes at each other and let’s go do something productive!” Samson yelled.

“Exactly, what is  _ your _ definition of ‘productive’, Samson?” Leviathan said.

“Doing literally anything except standing there, mentally having sex with each other!”

Filia and Squigly turned white and just looked away. Everyone, except Peacock, who was laughing, also kind of turned white too.

“S-S-Samson!” Filia stuttered.

“What?! It’s true, isn’t it?!?”

“N-No!!!” Filia said as her face turned red.

“Alright, let’s just please move on.” Ms. Fortune started rubbing her eyes, “I don’t want to get this inside of my head any more than it has.”

“Agreed, can we just do something else other than talk about sex?” Cerebella asked.

“Hey, how about we out in the town tonight? Hang out, go to the movies, anything.” Leduc asked.

Everyone nodded almost instantly and looked at Ileum.

Ileum laughed. “Alright, you can go.”

“Thank you, Miss Ileum!” Filia said as she left.

Everyone followed suite. 

*  * *

It was 9:30 P.M. and everyone was starting to head back. They went to the theater, ate at a restaurant, and explored New Meridian more. They even went to a tall building away from the city and looked at the glowing lights of the city combined with the starry night sky.

“That was so much fun!” Squigly said.

“I’ll admit, it was cool.” Ms. Fortune started, “All my life, Little Innsmouth was the only place that I thought looked beautiful. Well I guess I was wro-“

**_BOOM!!!_ **

The group jumped up in startilization. They looked behind them and saw smoke and fire coming from the bank.

“What the hell?” Leduc said.

They all got closer to the scene and a group of 9 people ran out with tons of bags.

“Medicis. I knew something was up.” Carol said.

“Yeah. But I was expecting something  _ way _ bigger than bank theft. They were quiet for two straight months. I expected world domination or something.” Filia said.

“Doesn’t matter. We still gotta stop them.” Hannah said, yellow and black nanobytes swarming against her body, forming blasters and a mask.

“Woah. When could you do that?” Cerebella asked.

“Oh, Stanley saw how damaged some of my parts were so he upgraded them with nanotechnology. Pretty cool, huh?” She said as a mask was being formed on her face.

“Cool doesn’t even cover that.” Carol replied.

“Hmph. Alright, let’s go stop them.” Hannah said as an upgraded jet pack activated and she flew towards them. Everyone was either ran over there or flew over there.

“So, what now?” One of the goons asked.

“We wait until Bob comes. When he does, we drive over to the Bastet’s Den and the rest will do their magic.”

“I’m sorry what’s this about a Bastet’s Den?” Ms. Fortune asked, hanging from a light pole.

“It’s the cat!” one of the goons exclaimed.

“Um, I have a name.” Ms. Fortune said before the goons fired at her. She sucked her arms back to their sockets as she went on top of the pole and jumped onto the nearest fire escape and jumped away from that and jumped onto one of the goons. Before they could fire, Carol tackled two of the goons. When Ms. Fortune pointed behind the goons, the goons looked behind them and got slapped by Vice Versa. Then, Samson grabbed them with a tendril and spun them towards Leviathan, who whacked them onto the the street. 

“Leduc, electrocute me!” Hannah exclaimed as she activated two big blasters. Leduc shot electricity at her. Her jet pack caught the electricity and transferred it into her blasters. The she blasted 3 of the goons all the way across the street. 

“Oh, shit! We gotta bail man!” One of the three remaining goons said. They turned around to see Peacock and Marie standing right in front of them.

“Where do you think your going?”

One of them audibly gulped. Then a giant skeleton hand came from the ground and grabbed all three of the goons.

“Okay, Okay, Okay!!! We give!! We give up!” The three goons said in unison.

Marie floated towards the three goons, glaring at them. The goons slowly started to be more afraid of her.

“Good.” is all she said before throwing them near all the other goons.

They group assembled near the bags. 

“Should we check them?” Filia asked.

“Why? It’s obviously money in the bag.” Samson said.

But Ms. Fortune clawed the bag open to see what it was. All of them were surprised.

“Aren’t those camera parts?”

“Yeah, as well as other tech that they use in banks.”

“But why would they be stealing those?” 

“Yeah, when I was part of them, it was always about money. Why they got anything other than cash is beyond me.” Cerebella said.

They didn’t notice the small crowd that formed around them.

“Wait, isn’t that the Skullgirl?” 

“It can’t be. She stopped a Medici crime. She’d do something way worse.”

“Wait, do those girls go Maplecrest High?”

A News Reporter walked up to Filia then looked at the camera man.

“This is News Channel 8 at the scene. We had received word that the Midtown Bank was being robbed. But this group of people apparently stopped the Medici from succeeding in their attempted robbery. So tell us,” she said as she put the microphone near Filia’s mouth, “what exactly happened?”

Filia kind of stuttered a bit before giving them an answer. “Uh, um! W-we were walking back from hanging out and we saw them robbing the bank. So we stopped them.”

“Did you do this to get popular or...?”

“I did this because it was the right thing to do.”

A majority of the group nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the-AH!” She said before Peacock snatched the microphone out of her hand.

“Yo! What’s up, losers! It’s your new favorite toon, PEACOCK!”

“Wait, we’re doing this?!? In that case!” Samson said before snatching the mic from Peacock.

“Is there any single, female parasites out there? If so, call me up! We can have a nice time of-“

“Samson!!” Filia said before taking the mic and giving it back to the news reporter.

“Anyway, what I was saying. There you have it ladies and gentlemen. A group of individuals stopped what could’ve been a catastrophic event. For advertisement sake, I’ll call them….” she looked around and saw Marie, which smiled weakly and waved.

“... _ the Skullgirls _ !”

“Wait, what!?!?” Everyone on the group asked.

“This is Darla Batchlet, signing off. 

*  * *

The group got home and looked at the time. 11:59. Almost midnight and way past their curfew.

“Well shit.” Ms. Fortune murmured.

“Ileum’s so gonna kill us.” Squigly said.

“Relax it’ll be fine. She’s probably asleep.” Peacock said before turning the corner and coming face to face with Ileum. Peacock screamed at the top of her lungs and fell down to the ground.

“Is it really fine, kids? Or should I say, is it really fine,  _ Skullgirls? _ !?!”

“Well, We’re dead.” Carol said, facepalming herself.

“Well, Peacock’s already dead. So at least that’s one less gallon of blood on your hands.” Ms. Fortune said to Ileum, awkwardly laughing a bit.

“I should be mad...but I’m not.” Ileum said. “All of you stopped a crime that none of you had any part of. You used your powers for good. And I’m proud of all of you for that.”

“...” 

“....”

“...so does that mean we’re off the hook?” 

“Yes. Yes it does.”

The group sighed in relief.

“Well, I’m going to bed. Good night.”

Everyone followed suite as they went to their respective rooms.

*  * *

Filia woke up from her slumber. She was still tired as hell, seeing as she only slept for a few short hours. She noticed Squigly was gone so she got up, put on her school clothes and walked out. Everyone was either next to the couch or on the couch watching the monitor. She slid between Squigly and Carol.

“What’s happening?” 

“They’re talking about us.” Carol replied.

“Good rep or bad rep?”

“So far, good.” Squigly answered.

They focused their attention back to the TV.

‘It seems as though this group aptly named ‘The Skullgirls’ are taking down Medicis. A few months ago, they reportedly taken down some Medicis in their casino. We’ve talked to some local residents on their opinions on the group.’

“Everytime I left my house, I was afraid. Afraid of getting jumped. Afraid of getting robbed. Afraid of dying. But thanks to The Skullgirls, I can live my life without fearing the Medicis.” A 20-year old man said.

“Once, the Medici have taken everything I have ever loved. It took a while but I got back on track. But I had this feeling that everything would go wrong again. But with the Skullgirls around, I can make a new life without worrying about the Medicis.” An 18-year old girl said, nearly crying.

“The bad guys is poop, the heroes is good!” A 5-year old answered, playing with toys.

The praise kept on coming and coming from most people in the city. 

“Wait…” Filia said as she walked towards the door.

“What is it kid?” Samson asked.

Filia opened the door and could see a bunch of reporters and cameramen standing there. Some of the cameramens’ cameras had flash on and it constantly irritated her. She closed the door.

“I knew it…”

The group looked at each other.

“Oh, why don’t we scare them away?” Peacock said, starting to pull out her gun.

“Nonononono! These people look up to us as heroes and not threats. They don’t even see Marie as a threat. I don’t want them to think we are threats to them.”

“I guess we all just go out there.” Cerebella sighed.

“No, I’ll do it.” Filia replied.

The team looked at her and nodded.

“I wish you Good luck.” Squigly said.

“We’ll watch you from the news station.” Ileum said.

Filia nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to open the door, in three, two, one…”

Filia opened the door and walked out. The cameramens’ cameras constantly went off and recorded them. The reporters asked questions, putting microphones near their faces.

But one question in particular caught their attention.

“Are you going to be doing what you did last night daily now?”

Filia took the microphone and before she answered, she looked back at her teammates, which nodded.

“Yes, we are. Everyone here has suffered from the Medicis once in the past. They cause pain to so many people. They changed those people in terrible ways. They commit crimes and always get away with them. Well, that stops now. The Medicis’ control of New Meridian is over. This city is going to take it back. We’re gonna make New Meridian a place where people can walk the streets without fearing for the worst. We’re gonna make it a time where kids can play with each other in the playground. We are the Skullgirls! And we are here to stop the Medicis and make New Meridian a safer place.” 

Filia then gave the microphone back to the reporter and walked back to the lab.

Everyone looked amused.

“I would’ve done it better myself, but that wasn’t too shabby.” Peacock said, smoking a blunt.

Filia just smiled. She has really gotten used to Peacock’s way of complimenting her.

“Wait, if you’re going to do this, shouldn’t you guys have a leader?” Ileum asked.

“Wait, you’re fine with this?” Stanley asked.

“Yeah, usually it’ll take us an essay to slightly convince you.” Big Band remarked.

“Harhar. I’m fine with it as long as you guys get back safe and sound and around 11:59.”

The team nodded.

“So….I vote that I lead!!” Ms. Fortune yelled.

“No, If there’s anyone gonna lead, it should be either me or Marie!” Peacock retaliated.

While the team bickered on and on about who should lead, Ileum walked by Filia and tapped on her, getting her attention. She gestured to come with her and she followed. They went into a private part of the Lab that was inhabited at the moment.

“Do you want to be leader?” Ileum asked out of nowhere

“No. Yeah. I don’t know. Why did you bring me here?” Filia asked, still confused.

“Because out of all of us, to me, you seem the most qualified.”

“But, I’m not as agile as Nadia. I’m not as strong as Marie. Heck, I can’t even fly or do anything crazy. Samson does all that.” 

“True. But you don’t need strength, flight, agility, or even powers, to be a good leader. What do you think a good leader does?”

“Lead their teams into victory?”

“Kind of. They lead their teams, but whether they lose or win, a good leader tries their best when things go to hell. But they don’t care about the glory or the popularity. They care about their team’s safety and that they did the right thing. I see that in you. Almost everyone bickered about it out there while you stayed silent. You were the one who decided to talk to the news people. You gave the Skullgirls a good name doing that. And if you’re the type to strategize a bit, I believe you would make a great leader.”

Filia put her hand on her chin before a smile crept on her face. All of the self-doubt that was there prior was gone.

“Alright, I’ll do my best! I won’t let you down!” Filia exclaimed.

“I know you won’t. That’s why I chose you.” Ileum said, smiling from beneath her mask.

Filia nodded before she ran back to the group, which noticed her disappearance. 

“Where were you, Hair Pins?” Peacock asked.

“Nowhere.” She said before sitting down on the couch, closing her eyes, grinning.

The group looked at Ileum.

“Be nice Peacock. Especially when she’s your leader.” Ileum said before walking away.

Filia’s grin grew as she knew the others were looking at her.

“Wait, wouldn’t that make me co-leader?” Samson finally spoke.

“No!” The entire group exclaimed at once.

*  * *

The next few days passed by very quickly. The group has arrested some criminals and thugs and even some undercover cops were thrown in there as well. And getting 139 death threats. It still baffled them how many threats they shouted to and/or about them in a short amount of time. The day came when Filia and Carol had to go to school. Once they were at the front of the school, both of them got really nervous.

“Are you going to be okay?” Filia asked.

“I don’t know. You?” Carol asked.

“I feel the same way to be honest.”

“Well, the best we can do is just get in there and just see what happens.”

Filia nodded. She hopefully didn’t have to deal with Samson, seeing as they talked about this last night. He said he’ll be as quiet as possible.

Which she kind of doubted,

They walked inside to see a ton of students, talking and just hanging out before classes started, which was in 9 minutes. Once the door behind them closed, every single conversation that was happening was now gone, as the students became quiet and looked at them.

The two started to sweat profoundly. They just took a step into this school for the first time in a year or two, and people were already staring.

Then one person clapped. He kept repeating the process. Then a few more students started clapping. Until eventually, everyone in the hall, was clapping for the two of them. Even some whistles and applause. 

The two’s fears’ went away instantaneously and was replaced with happiness. Once they arrived at their homeroom class, Mrs. Victoria was there, reading a book until all her students were there.

“Long time no see, you two. Welcome back.” She said.

The class started murmuring about the two. Filia and Carol started to feel like stars.

The school day went really well for the two. They went through 7 periods and lunch together and everything went fine.

At the last period of the day, which was P.E., that’s when things got more...complicated. Carol had Music while Filia had P.E. Every student had to change to gym clothes.

“Alright, students, your teacher, Mr. Adole, is absent today and we got a substitute today.” The principal of the school announced there.

“Your substitute today will be Mr. Riccardo!”

As Riccardo walked out of another room, wearing gym clothes, Filia’s authentic smile turned into a face of absolute shock and nervosity. Once Riccardo saw her, he just smiled.

“He will be taking Mr. Adole’s role until he returns. You will treat him with respect, like how you would treat any other teacher.”

Riccardo’s smile grew larger. That grin screamed ‘You hear him? He said to treat me with respect!’

But every one of those words were just white noise to her. The amount of sweat she had was incomprehensible. Samson even made a disgusted noise. 

“Alright, I will leave it to you, Mr. Riccardo!” The principal said, as he shook his hand and walked away.

Riccardo looked at the group as Filia felt like she was going to pass out.

“Alright, students! I don’t know how Mr. Adole operates, but we are going to do this  **_my_ ** way! Boys, you will do 20 push-ups, girls, you will do 30 jumping jacks, GO!”

The boys got to the ground fast and started doing push-ups like it was nobody’s business. As the girl’s did the jumping jacks, Riccardo stared at their bouncing boobs, drooling a bit. Once Filia knew his true intentions, she just slowly stopped doing it all together.

Riccardo noticed this. When everyone was finished, he walked slowly towards her, much to her dismay.

“You didn’t do 30 jumping jacks...why was that?” Riccardo said in a creepy voice.

Filia got shivers as she tried to make up a legitimate answer.

“Um...uh….”

“Hm? I’m waitin’...”

“I..I just...my legs started hurting.”

“Really then? Leader of the Skullgirls yet, seem to tire out after a few jumping jacks?!”

Filia’s eyes widened at that.

_ ‘How did he know I was the leader? Sure, I was the one who did the news report and all, but it still wasn’t concrete…’ _ Filia thought.

“Well, then since you didn’t do all of the jumping jacks, you will run around the school twice!”

“What?!?!”

“Get to it!!”

Filia grumbled as she went outside and started to run.

_ One lap later… _

“I can’t take another lap of this!” Filia breathed.

“If you ask me, this whole situation is absolute horse shit.” Samson commented.

“But, I have so many questions. Did they kidnap or kill Mr. Adole? Is the principal working with the Medicis? How did he know I was the leader? It’s hurting my head trying to understand all this…” 

“Well, whatever the case is, the bastards are planning something. Something big.” 

That’s when Filia noticed something. There were a few trucks with the Medici logos on the side.

“Shit! They are planning something!”

They ran back to the gym, hoping to say something to one of her classmates, thinking the situation couldn’t get any worse.

When she ran back in, she got looks from her classmates. And there was Riccardo, talking to Vitale. 

If the last surprise didn’t make her go white in fear, this would’ve done it. 

“Well, I’ve got to get going. See you in a bit.” Vitale said, shaking Riccardo’s hands. And before he left, he glared at Filia. But also smiled to her.

“Well, class is over, time to pack up and go home! Except you.” Riccardo said, looking at Filia.

_ ‘Great…’  _ Filia thought. She changed back to her regular clothing and met with Riccardo.

“You better listen carefully, bitch. I don’t want a word of this getting out there. If I see one of your friends that isn’t that Pinwheel fucker, I’ll kill you and everyone in this school. Capisce?”

“What did you do to him?” Filia asked.

“Excuse me?”

“What did you do to Mr. Adole?”

“I don’t have to answer you, brat.”

“Where is he?!?” Filia said, getting more impatient.

“You gotta do what you gotta do.” Riccardo muttered to himself, before he punched Filia square in the nose.

“Kid! I’ll kill you, you-“

“Kill me then. I dare you to do it, parasite! Make life for your host hell!”

Samson grumbled. Filia wiped the blood coming from her nose and got back up.

“Try that again and things won’t go as planned for ya. Stay out of our way. We are capable of a lot of things. Things that will make you and your loved ones beg for mercy that they’ll never get. This is your first and final warning. Now get out of my sight.” Riccardo said, as he relaxed on Mr. Adole’s chair. 

As much as Filia wanted to stop him there, she just walked out. Mrs. Victoria looked at her on the way out. But what Filia saw wasn’t happiness. It was out of dry anger and fear. When she was at the entrance, Carol was waiting their with her violin case. She looked like she was about to ask a question. But Carol looked at her face once and knew something big happened. She really was curious but for now, the two would just walk home silently.

*  * *

That night, it was silent. The group split up into teams to scour the city faster. Filia was in a group with Marie and Ms. Fortune. The other teams were Carol & Squigly & Cerebella and Peacock & Hive & Leduc. Even though it was a weird team at first, it was a nice way for the three to know each other a bit better. The three sat down on a rooftop just chilling out.

“So how did the school thing work out?” Marie asked.

Filia didn’t know how to respond to that. She could tell them the truth or lie to them.

“Okay, I don’t want the others to know about this, so promise me you won’t tell anyone else.”

The other two girls nodded.

“The Medicis are planning something at my school.”

Filia waited for someone to ask “What!?”.

“Go on.” Ms. Fortune said.

“Wait, you guys aren’t surprised?”

“I mean, the Medici are responsible for like, 99% of the crime here. They were gonna attack somewhere. Your school just makes it easier to take them down.”

“Here’s the thing though. Riccardo...” 

“The useless side character that now does things to drive the plot forward?” Ms. Fortune said, looking at her nails.

“W-what?”

“Nevermind, continue.”

“Well, I think they kidnapped the P.E. Teacher, hell, they might’ve killed him. Riccardo took his place and forced the boys to do push-ups while the girls do jumping jacks, so he could see the...um...”

Filia did hand-movements around her breasts to emphasize what she was trying to say.

“Ugh.” Marie muttered.

“And to make matters worse, you're barely underage. But to other girls as well…that man disgusts me.” Ms. Fortune cringed.

“When I stopped before the others did, he knew I was getting uncomfortable, but he made me run around the school twice. When I came back, Vitale was there talking to him. He smirked at me before he left. When school was out, Riccardo talked to me and told me that if we messed with Medici business again, he’s going to make us and probably the rest of the school pay.” 

“So what do we do?” 

“We just have to wait.”

Marie seemed nervous. She looked like she wanted to tell them something…and she did. She wanted to tell them about the Skull Heart and how it was slowly taking over her, killing her.

When she opened her mouth to say something, they heard an out of control car, roaming the streets. They decided to chase after it through the rooftops. Marie flew over the rooftops while Filia and Ms. Fortune jumped from on to another. Once the car stopped in front of a store, the trio fell down to the ground and slowly made their way to the small store. 

Inside they saw Lawrence, Riccardo, and a few other goons in the store, one of the goons holding a gun to the cashier, which went to Filia’s school. There were also a few customers there too. Filia was debating on whether or not she should stay back until she looked at the cashier’s eyes. He looked so afraid, so helpless, like this was the day he was going to die. 

She knew she couldn’t let that happen. She ran in, in front of the group, and walked through the door. Samson shot a tendril to the goon, broke the goons hand and took the gun from him.

Riccardo looked shocked at first, but settled at his grin. His grin that gave Filia shivers. 

As the rest of the goons pulled out knives, the cashier just ran out back. As the fight between The Medicis and The Skullgirls happened, the cashier led the customers to safety while also getting a fire extinguisher.

The Skullgirls were winning this by a long shot. The goons didn’t even have a chance. Lawrence went behind Filia. Before he could strike, the cashier whacked him behind the head, knocking him unconscious.

When Marie noticed Riccardo and Lawrence escaping, she flew in to grab both of them, but Riccardo ducked, making Marie grab only Lawrence.

“Ricc, help me!” Lawrence cried in panic.

“Help yourself!” Riccardo said as he got in the car and drove away. Marie threw Lawrence through the window like the rest of the goons. As Ms. Fortune and Marie chased him, he pushed a button on a detonator, blowing up a bomb that they hid in the top of the shop. Once the explosion happened, the ceiling almost fell on top of the cashier. But Filia and Samson held it up, straining themselves. Ms. Fortune and Marie looked back to see the explosion.

“Go! Get out of here!” Filia yelled.

The cashier did as he was told and booked it out of there. As the ceiling kept collapsing on top of Filia and Samson, they threw the piece that was collapsing on top of them and ran. A few chunks hit them a few times but they still made it out.

Once the building collapsed on itself, Ms. Fortune and Marie checked on Filia.

“Are you alright?” Marie asked.

“Did everyone make it?” Filia asked.

Ms. Fortune looked around to see the customers and cashier together.

“Yep, sure looks like it.”

But for some reason, Samson didn’t approve.

“You could’ve gotten yourself killed, kid! What were you thinking?!?!”

“I was saving their lives Samson! I don’t care what happens to me, as long as others are okay!” 

“One of these days, you’re going to learn that you can’t save anybody, no matter how much you try!”

“Are you saying all of this because you need a host to live?!?! Because I bet that’s exactly what it is!” 

“What?!?! When have I ever said that!?”

“You two, just stop it.” Ms. Fortune said.

Samson just grumbled to himself, while Filia just crossed her arms and huffed.

The cashier walked up to the group nervously.

“Th-Thank you. All of you. Is there anyway I can show my gratitude?”

“Nah, we’re fine. As long as we stopped them, it’s a victory in my book.” Ms. Fortune said.

“And that you’re safe.” Marie added.

“Jason, are you alright?!?” 

The group turned to see Mrs. Victoria running towards the cashier.

“Yeah, mom, I’m fine.”

The two hugged as Filia’s expression softened. She was surprised as hell, but she was still pent up about Samson.

“Thank you, Filia. For saving my son.”

With that, Filia smiled.

“Just don’t expect a raise in your grade because of this.” Mrs. Victoria joked.

“I won’t. As long as everyone here’s safe, I’ll be happy.”

Mrs. Victoria smiled as she walked off with her son. Filia smiled toward her direction, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment. 

“What happened?”

The group looked back to see the other members of the group arriving at the scene.

“Medici attempted to rob the store, we kicked all but one’s asses, bomb went off, and Filia saved person in bombed shop. Just a typical night.” Ms. Fortune said, stretching.

“Well, even though one escaped, you still saved everyone.” Squigly said.

“Yeah...also wasn’t that Mrs. Victoria that walked away.

Filia nodded. “And she has a son too.”

“What?!?”

As Cerebella looked at her watch, she warned the group about the time. As everyone left the scene, they heard police sirens in the distance. 

Leviathan noticed that Samson was quiet. Too quiet. 

“Milady, do you think something happened between Miss Filia and Samson?” Leviathan whispered. 

“No, why?”

“Well, Samson seems too quiet tonight.”

“Now that you mention it…earlier today, Filia was acting a bit weird.”

“Should we ask?”

“When we get back.”

*  * *

After everyone did their thing when they got back, Filia changed to a purple nightdress. When she got onto the bed, Squigly knocked on the door, asking to come in.

“Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Squigly, wearing a red nightdress.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

Filia nodded and patted on the spot next to her.

“Is there something going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Samson seemed a lot quieter than usual. Plus when you came home from school, you also seemed weird. Did something happen?”

Filia debated on whether to tell her or not. About what happened at school. I mean she told Marie and Nadia, she could tell Squigly. Also Samson was sleeping, so she could say some things without getting interrupted by him.

So that’s what she did. She told her everything that happened at school and the argument she and Samson had at the shop.

“Wow…”

“Yeah…now I’m just having second thoughts about this team. Sure, we help a lot of people, but what does this do to me? This may also affect other members on our team.”

“Well, for starters, let’s go over the Medici situation. Only one question, do you want anybody else to know?”

“Well, Marie and Nadia already know about this. But I’m still contemplating on whether or not to tell them.

“Alright. Just let me know if you’re ready to tell them.

Filia nodded her head.

“Now, about Samson.”

Leviathan joined in on this conversation. “Before he turned into the thing he is now, he was a more caring and passionate parasite. So, even though he seems rude and cruel, somewhere in there, he is caring. So, one of the reasons why he might’ve said that was because he might’ve been worried for ya.”

“Agreed. Also he might be afraid. Afraid of you getting hurt. Afraid that your death might be his fault.”

Filia started to nod. She looked back at the things she said to him. Man, this was the whole ‘broken hand, cussing him out’ act all over again.

“Ugh, this thing always happens between me and Samson.” Filia said, facepalming herself.

Squigly brought her to a very soft and warm hug. “It’s just a thing you two do. You two may act like that from time to time, but I can tell that you two do care about each other.”

Filia closed her eyes as she embraced Squigly in her arms. Relaxing in the warmth the two were sharing. Even though they don’t spend as much time together as they used to, it was apparent that the two still loved each other. Filia fell asleep in her arms, giving in to the warmth. Squigly smiled as she slowly put her down on the bed, not breaking the hug. After soon enough, Squigly succumbs to the warmth and comfortness around her and fell asleep.

*  * *

The next few days went surprisingly fast. Mrs. Victoria acted softer than usual when Filia was around. Riccardo was still her P.E. Teacher, but he seemed different. Like, he was acting like an authentic P.E. Teacher for once. He didn’t even smirk at her or give her looks. In fact, he just ignored her existence all together. Which she was totally fine with. On Friday, in Science, the teacher, Mrs. Cole, was talking about explosive chemicals. She even put a little barrier with a tiny hole over the sink, in which she put a beaker with a green liquid. She poured the beaker with yellow liquid through the tiny hole and stepped back as an explosion happened. The entire class was wowed. But when that tiny explosion happened, the class felt a rumble from across the school campus. Filia widened her eyes. 

The bombs the Medici used in the shop earlier that week, the Medici being here.

She knew what was happening.

They were going to bomb the school.

Before she could get up and yell about it, it was too late the explosion happened from below and beside the class. A stray piece of brick hit Filia in the head, knocking her unconscious.

“Filia!!!” was all she heard before she lost consciousness.

*  * *

Filia regained conscious not too long after. When she finally came to, she instantly felt pain all over her body. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to move anything, but she was. Except her left leg. When she looked to see the problem, she felt blood go down her face as she looked. As her eyes readjusted, she saw that a piece of concrete was punctured into her. It was something she could carry, but it would be painful to take out. 

“Samson...can you help me here?” Filia said weakly.

“Samson?” She felt her hair.

Samson wasn’t there anymore.

She was back to her blonde self.

“Samson!!” She exclaimed.

If she wasn’t panicking before, now she was.

Filia touched the concrete in her leg and instantly winced in pain.

“IcantdothisIcantdothis!!!” She panicked.

She held onto the concrete and tears of fear went down her cheeks, mixed with blood. She slowly and painfully took the piece out. As she was doing so, she screamed in pain and tears of pain went down her face. When she was done, she threw the bloody concrete to the side. Carol flew down next to her.

“Filia! Are you okay!?!” Carol exclaimed as she hugged her. 

“Yeah, yeah…I’m fine.” Filia lied.

“Listen, I’m going to go get the others! I’ll be right back!” Carol said before flying off. 

Filia got up and walked out with a limp.

What she saw next was truly devastating.

Bodies of her classmates, teachers, and school faculty were everywhere. The ones who lived were crying, breaking down from what they experienced. She looked to see a huge slab of concrete over a student, while others were attempting to help him out. She ran to the thing, the crushed students cries of help getting louder and louder.

“Someone please help!!!”

Filia ran over to the people and helped tried to take it off. But it just made it worse. The rubble on top of the school fell down onto the slab, crushing the student as his brain matter and even eyes and ears squirted all over the surrounding students.

Filia especially.

She was scarred. She was so scarred, she couldn’t even move for a solid three minutes. One of the remaining students cried her eyes out over her dead boyfriend. Others joined in as they lost a friend in a brutal death.

Filia still couldn’t believe it. She looked behind her to see a teacher impaled by a metal rod, organs falling over his body. She couldn’t believe it. No Samson, no saving people. As she looked around, she heard more cries of help. More death happening.

_ SHINK _

Filia felt the pain in her abdomen as she looked down to see a part of a staff.

‘Eliza…’ she thought.

“Miss me darling~?” 

Eliza retracted her rod from Filia’s body, Filia falling down to her knees, blood coming from her mouth and abdomen. Eliza kicked her over.

“I tried to warn you. I really tried. But you didn’t listen.” Riccardo said from behind her.

“Now as your teacher, I know what’s best for students. I don’t send them to detention, so they could do it over and over again. Nonono. I teach them a lesson.”

Riccardo revealed a metal electrified container. She could hear Samson’s muffled screams in there.

“Not so useful now, huh? With that parasite, you could’ve kicked some major ass. Without it, you’re just a nobody. A person pretending to play hero. And you may be asking, how did I figure out you’re the leader? Well, we had our own personal spy over there.”

Filia’s eyes opened.

“Eliza, would you put her out of her misery.”

“With pleasure.” 

As she raised her staff, adding a blood spike to it. Filia felt useless. Until she remembered what they did. What they attempted. Everything that the Medicis have done, including her own family. Before Eliza attacked, Filia rolled over and kicked Riccardo in the face, letting go of the container. She grabbed two pieces of concrete and threw them at their faces. Riccardo’s was a bullseye and for Eliza, all it did was piss her off more. Filia grabbed the container and ran back into the collapsed school. Eliza chased after her. 

And holy shit, she was fast!

Filia only outran her because she outsmarted her. When she went back into the Science Room, she saw Mrs. Cole’s body, all burnt up and halfway through the broken window. She opened the container to reveal an unconscious Samson.

“Shit…” Filia mumbled.

She looked at the chemicals at the table, which had lids and were in a purse, some of them being broken while some being stable. She decided to use her knowledge in the class and get to work.

*  * *

Mrs. Victoria never wanted to deal with the Medici again. A long time ago, she was a vigilante, taking down, and sometimes, killing, the Medici. Her name was D. Violet. She wasn’t a popular enforcer, but she was okay with that. She used her acrobatic skills and her snake partner to take down goons. When she had her son, Jason, she kind of stopped the whole thing. Her snake becoming the family pet. When the Skullgirls were introduced to the world, she thought she didn’t have to worry about becoming D. Violet again. She just wanted to live a normal life. As she coughed out some smoke from her lungs and feeling pain, she immediately knew that she couldn’t have that.

As soon as she could think straight, her mind immediately went to Jason.

“Jason!”

She got back up, ignoring any pain that was going through her body. She remembered he went to Social Studies at this time. She ran all the way over to the The Social Studies room, or what was left of it. It was right next to the Science room. She looked around, fearing for the worst, hoping for the best.

That’s when she saw him on the ground, bloody. She ran over to him, yelling his name. He slowly opened his left eye, his right eye having a glass shard in it. His chest was shanked by metal rods and rubble.

“M-mom?”

“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” 

Jason could tell she was trying to hold back tears. She was choking herself out. 

“I-I” Jason coughed.

“It’ll be okay, Jason…everything will be okay…” 

“I know it will...I know who you used to be. You can take them on...along with the Skullgirls...you would make a wonderful…member…”

Jason’s head then fell down onto the ground.

Mrs. Victoria lost it. She broke down over her son’s dead body.

Next door, she heard a tiny explosion as well as a shriek. Then someone tearing someone else to shreds, followed by glass shattering. Assuming someone got thrown out the window, she looked out to see a very bloody Filia on the ground. She looked so helpless, so weak. She was going to help her whenever the fiend who did this showed itself.

*  * *

Things went south for Filia’s Plan really quickly. When Eliza found her, she was done with the explosion chemical. It blew up in Eliza’s face, getting glass shards everywhere on her face. Sekhmet took control and brutally scratched Filia before throwing her out the window. The container confining Samson broke and his hairy body was right next to Filia.

‘Where are you Carol?’ she thought weakly.

She could feel Eliza walk towards her, her high heels making a noise. The noise getting louder when she got closer.

Filia was helpless. This was it for her. She was going to die. Not like how a true leader would go out, but like a useless human being who had no strength or couldn’t be really fast. Her wit was the only reason she was alive. Barely.

When Eliza was over Filia, before she could raise her staff, Mrs. Victoria charged and stabbed her in the face with a glass shard. 

Eliza screamed in pain as she retracted away from Filia.

“I don’t need to kill either of you! The mission is already a success. I’ll see you later, deary~” Eliza blew a kiss towards the two before escaping. 

Mrs. Victoria saw the team incoming. She decided to stay with the girl and parasite until they came over here. Once they immediately landed, they were beyond scared and shocked of what they saw. When Squigly looked over and saw Filia, tears formed up in her eyes. She feared she was dead. She ran over to her and the teacher.

“FILIA!!!” She cried.

She fell down to the ground and hugged Filia. Filia’s blood was getting all over her, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to hug her. The others came by, also shocked and afraid.

“Thank you, Mrs. Victoria. For looking after her.” Carol said, still shocked.

Mrs. Victoria, still devastated, just nodded.

“What do we do?” Leduc said, looking at the bloody and destroyed site.

“You guys see if anyone else here needs help. I’ll take Filia back to the Lab.” Hannah said, picking her up and flying back. 

As they flew back, Squigly looked on in worry. Mrs. Victoria decided to help the Skullgirls, which they appreciated. But they were too late. Those who needed help before either died or was saved by someone else. This was the team’s most stressful and depressing day.

*  * *

_ ‘This is all your fault…’ _

_ ‘I would’ve been alive if you weren’t there…’ _

_ ‘You let us down…’ _

Filia opened her eyes to see nothingness. She kept hearing these whispers, no matter how much she wanted them to stop. She stood up only to regret it. She started to feel so…lightheaded. So sick. She threw up, trying to hold it all back. When she finally finished, she looked at the stuff to see blood and guts. She felt her stomach, only to feel something else. She grabbed the object and put it into view.

It was a hand. She instinctively dropped to the ground, throwing the hand while screaming in fear. She landed on something squishy. She even felt it burst. She looked down to see a mountain of bloody eyes. She screamed and started crying, crawling away from the eyes. The eyes were alive though, so they watched her every move.

“I’M SORRY I LET YOU ALL DOWN!!! I TRIED TO HELP YOU ALL!!! BUT I FAILED…”

_ ‘You caused this!!’ _

Before Filia could question where the voices were coming from, she felt a hole open beneath her. She fell in screaming.

_ ‘You are a sorry excuse of a leader!!! Without the Skullgirls, the Medicis wouldn’t have bombed the school…You caused them to do this!!! You caused me to die!!!’ _

There were now 20 voices in her head, yelling at her, blaming her and even telling her to go kill herself. When she finally landed, she slowly got up, feeling the pain of the fall. When she got up, she saw every one of her teammates. Her friends. Then they all disappeared, screaming in agony. 

Some blood splattered on Filia’s face. She was too shocked to say anything. Her entire body was trembling, while tears went down her face.

Then, everyone’s bodies reappeared as they jumped out at her, spitting out blood. They started to tear her into shreds, her guts and skin going all over the place.

_ ‘You…you started this…you...YOU... _ **_YOU!!!_ ** _ ’  _

Then the corpses of her classmates also jumped towards her as Filia’s final sight, was when one of the zombies gouged her eyes out.

She heard squishy sounds, indicating they ate her eyes.

_ ‘Die…’ _

*  * *

Filia woke up on a hospital bed, screaming, drenched in sweat and tears. She looked around the room, realizing she was in the Lab 8 Emergency Room. But that didn’t stop her fears. Even with her out of the hellish nightmare, she still felt afraid. She was so scared, she found herself crying. She looked at her body. She had a cast on her left leg, a chest bandage, and a few small bandages here and there. Even some stitches were found as well.

She saw the door practically fling open to reveal Squigly.

Before Filia could say anything, she found herself in a tight and painful hug.

“I…I thought I was never going to see you alive again…I’m sorry I wasn’t there in time.”

Filia could tell Squigly has been crying. The hug was causing her ribs to hurt but she’d feel guilty if she said anything about the hug. Especially when Squigly was worried sick about her.

“I also heard you scream. I was so worried that something happened to you…”

Filia’s tears started again as she thought about her nightmare again.

“I’m not cut out to be a leader!!! I couldn’t save anybody there!!! They killed almost everyone there, and I couldn’t do anything. I’m…useless…” Filia cried.

Squigly tightened her hug.

“You’re not useless, Filia. The situation was out of your control. But…you still tried. Tried to save everyone. Tried to stop Eliza, even without Samson. Not every leader is perfect. And people will die, no matter how much we try. But I still love you.”

The two’s forehead’s touched together as their tears still speed down their cheeks.

“I...I love you too.”

The two continued to cry in each other’s arms, knowing that this was just the beginning.

*  * *

Mrs. Victoria went home that night, heartbroken. Before she went inside her room, she looked across to she Jason’s room. She would have cried some more if she didn’t feel anger then. She opened her snake cage and the snake slithered up her arm.

“You never let me out unlessss itsss an emergenssy.” The snake said. “Whatsss up?”

“I’ll tell you what’s up.” 

Victoria pulled out big purple devil horns in the closet and put them on. Her entire body turned into the same shade of purple as she let down her hair.

“D. Violet is back in town.”


	8. Update: I’m sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s in store for this fic...  
> (Please read all the way through)

Hi everyone.

So for those who have been here and loved this fic from the start, Thank you.

Those who commented positive things, Thank you.

Thank you everybody for everything.

 

But... 

I’m not happy.

Im not happy with how this fic turned out.

The first few chapters are fine. A bit OOC but I still like it

But in the later chapters, I don’t like them.

 

I think it’s easy to tell what I had in mind when I made this fic. A fic about friendship, love, and above all else, family.

For me, I failed at those. I tried to make emotional stuff, but when it made the plot inconsistent or characters inconsistent, it’s hard to just shake off.

When I made this, I had a few things in mind:

-How it was going to begin

-How it was going to end

-And a few things here and there in between

 

And I think its really easy to tell that. Like in Chapter 3 or 4, Hive and Filia never knew each other. That was established. But later on, I made them past friends. 

 

And lets not forget, what is probably the biggest problem, to me at least, is that characters may act WAY out of character. I feel like I nailed some of them, like Minette or Feng, but when it comes to the bigger characters, I feel their personalities jump from one thing to another. It just haunts me everytime I think about this fic.

 

But this isn’t the end.

 

What I’m planning is rewriting, no, remaking this entire fic.

I personally think I’m better at short stories or one shots than long Fics like this.

But my problem was rushing out characters to get more on screen. I’m trying to rush in without a plan.

So, my renovated fic will feature chapters based on an individual, a duo, or a small group.

 

Like Chapter 1: Peacock and Marie _“Insert Rest Here_ ”

Chapter 2: Filia, Squigly, and Carol

 

You get the point.

 

Ill try my best to keep what I enjoyed here and revamp it while changing the stuff I didn’t like.

Ill try my best to be more consistent with it too.

 

Again, thank you everyone

Those who enjoyed my work, those who liked it, all that

And I can’t express how thankful I am that many enjoyed it

 

But I’m not happy

Ill make this into a better fic, a fic that most of us can enjoy, including myself.

 

Thank you for understanding. And see ya guys later.


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